The premiere of the highly anticipated Critical Role: The Mighty Nein animated series is finally upon us! Critters have been waiting for this special moment that brings the beloved second campaign to the screen. This series promises a darker, more dramatic tone than its predecessor, The Legend Of Vox Machina, focusing on a group of broken but ultimately hopeful adventurers. 

That Hashtag Show was on the red carpet at the season one premiere to speak with the cast from Critical Role – Liam O’Brien (Voice of Vax’ildan & Caleb Widogast), Laura Bailey (Voice of Vex’ahlia & Jester Lavorre), Sam Riegel (Voice of Scanlan Shorthalt & Nott the Brave), Marisha Ray (Voice of Keyleth & Beauregard), Ashley Johnson (Voice of Pike Trickfoot & Yasha), Travis Willingham (Voice of Grog Strongjaw & Fjord), Taliesin Jaffe (Voice of Percy de Rolo & Mollymauk Tealeaf), Matthew Mercer (Game Master & Voice of Essek) – and showrunner Tasha Huo about the show, their characters, and so much more. 

That Hashtag Show: Was there anything you felt like you learned from Vox Machina from a production standpoint that you brought over with you?

Liam O’Brien: Just how to be better storytellers, and how to pace an animated show. Every episode of animation, any script, is a machine. How things happen in one episode ripples out into the others, and we’ve just become savvier at getting all the plates spinning at the same time.

Laura Bailey: I think we just realized that… we just learned to trust ourselves a lot with the story and realized that it’s okay to make a few changes to make it make more sense.

THS: How much fun have you been having with Campaign 4?

O’Brien: I need to get back to the table. I can’t wait. I swore that I would never, ever touch a bard, and I can’t wait to pull out all the stops and whistles with him. I just asked myself, what do I want to spend the next few years thinking about constantly, and the answer was theater.

THS: What are you most excited about seeing The Mighty Nein on the big screen?

Bailey: I want to see audience reaction to it. I cannot wait to hear people. Because it’s so isolated normally. I can’t wait to hear people laugh at all of the dick jokes.

Sam Riegel: Well, we told them to turn the sound up really loud, so we’re going to melt some faces, but I’m really most excited to see there’s an action sequence that kicks off the whole series, and I’m just excited to see people’s reaction to it because it’s really outstanding.

Marisha Ray: The sound, the action, but honestly, I feel like whenever we make these shows, it’s like you’re making art in a vacuum for years… So I’m very excited for fresh eyes to see it and to get that feedback and hear the audience reaction.

THS: What does it mean to you that Critical Role has been the introduction to D&D for so many people?

Bailey: I didn’t play until I was older, you know? Vox Machina was the first time I ever played D&D, and I had always wanted to, but I was so scared… and I think that Critical Role has opened that door for so many people, and it’s just so beautiful to be able to use our imagination as an adult.

Ashley Johnson: It means everything. I mean, I talk about all the time how this game changed everything for me as a person, my friends, like this wonderful group of people that are my found family. And I think it’s something that everybody should do.

THS: What would happen if Scanlon and Nott The Brave met?

Riegel: I’m sure Scanlan being Scanlan would try to hit on Nott, and Nott being Nott, she might go for it. So my characters would just hook up, probably.

THS: What did you learn or take away from Vox Machina that helped you guys when you were doing The Mighty Nein?

Ray: Give all the love to all the animators because they’re doing the Lord’s work over there, man. They’re crushing it. I mean, it looks amazing. This animation is insane.

Travis Willingham: More animation time good… We really slowed things down. We want to give people a sense of who they are as individuals, as pairs, as a group.

THS: What is the conversation if Grog and Fjord meet?

Willingham: I think Grog would try and put Fjord in the gym, get him some protein, do some stuff like that. I think he would tell him to take the shirt off because you’ve got to free the nipple.

THS: What do you think would happen if Pike and Yasha meet and have a conversation?

Johnson: I feel like they would get along. I feel like they would just be the best of friends, you know? And Yasha could carry Pike around if need be.

THS: What would you say it has done for you guys being able to have longer episodes?

Johnson: I think with Mighty Nein in particular, it’s a heavier story… it gives us an opportunity to sort of take the time to tell that story as opposed to just, you know.

THS: What was your inspiration for Essek?

Matthew Mercer: I wanted a very challenging antagonist character in the main campaign that would leave the players surprised in a lot of ways, possibly feeling betrayed or at least feeling a sense of how knotted a lot of the ethics of the storylines are.

THS: You voice characters in The Legend Of Vox Machina, but this time around you voice Essek, who is a much more central character. What does that feel like?

Mercer: Honestly, it feels really good. I feel like I get to be shoulder to shoulder with my friends in a more meaningful way. I’ve always been there when we worked on Vox Machina, but to your point, they were the main heroes, and I had the opportunity to jump in here and there which I enjoyed, but I feel like I get to walk arm in arm with them on this one.

THS: If Percy and Molly came face-to-face, what is that conversation? 

Taliesin Jaffe: They’d hate each other. Molly was originally going to be my replacement character if Percy died. I was going to introduce Molly, not even kidding, as a carnival coming in, doing a theatrical production of The Terrible Tinker of Tal’Dorei, which is a horror story with Percy as the villain. So it was just going to make everyone upset and uncomfortable.

THS: Was there anything you learned from The Legend Of Vox Machina that helped you in creating The Mighty Nein’s animated series?

Jaffe: You can’t go through this process without going back and going, oh man. There’s a lot of production lessons we’ve figured out. Plan ahead a little bit more, which, I mean, genuinely was a big thing of have all of your beats worked out with the assumption that we’re going to hopefully keep going.

THS: Do you pay attention to all the fan theories and reactions?

Tasha Huo: It is kind of fun. It’s also kind of fun to hear what their, you know, what their theories are and they’re always trying to guess it like where in the actual campaign are we going to fall here?

THS: How has your background in animation helped you really coming into something as special as Mighty Nein?

Huo: It’s sort of, you feel like you cut the line a little bit, meaning, you don’t have to educate yourself on the job. You already sort of feel comfortable in your surroundings and can just focus on telling the best possible story with an incredible team.

Want more from The Mighty Nein red carpet premiere? Head to That Hashtag Show on YouTube for the full video.

You can stream the first three episodes of The Mighty Nein now on Prime Video. New episodes air weekly on Wednesdays.

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