The Legend of Vox Machina is an American adult animated fantasy television series produced by Metapigeon, Titmouse, Inc., and Amazon MGM Studios, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video on January 28, 2022. The series is based on the first campaign of the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role. It stars Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Matthew Mercer, Liam O'Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham, reprising their roles from the campaign.
The first season consists of twelve episodes, the first ten of which were funded via a Kickstarter campaign. In November 2019, ahead of the series premiere, it was renewed by Amazon for a second season which premiered on January 20, 2023. In October 2022, ahead of season two's premiere, Amazon renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on October 3, 2024. It was renewed for a fourth season the same month, which premiered on June 3, 2026. In July 2025, Amazon renewed the show for a fifth and final season.
The series received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences, with praise for its animation, humor, voice acting, action sequences, writing, and faithfulness to the actual play web show. A spin-off series set twenty years later, The Mighty Nein, premiered on November 19, 2025 and adapts Critical Role second campaign.
Premise Setting The series is set on Exandria, a fictional world created by Matthew Mercer in 2012 for his personal Dungeons & Dragons campaign, which then launched as the actual play web series Critical Role in 2015. Most of the story takes place on the continent of Tal'Dorei in locations such as the metropolis of Emon and the city-state of Whitestone.
Synopsis The first two episodes of the series depict "an all-new story about the seven-member Vox Machina team at D&D Level 7 on their first 'grown-up' mission, which occurs prior to Critical Role's first RPG show". The series then adapts the Briarwood arc from the original web series, "in which the Vox Machina crew avenge the murder of the rulers of the town of Whitestone and most of their offspring by the evil Lord and Lady Briarwood". In the second and third season the series also adapts "other classic Vox Machina story arcs", such as the Chroma Conclave arc. Season four picks up a year after the events of season three. During that time the members of Vox Machina have parted ways to focus on themselves.
Cast and characters
The members of Vox Machina are the following seven characters (and one significant pet): Laura Bailey as Vex'ahlia "Vex" de Rolo, née Vessar, a half-elf ranger and the twin sister of Vax'ildan. Their mother was killed by a dragon before the events of the series, so Vex has studied dragons in the hope of eventually finding the one responsible; she feels a pain in her head whenever a dragon is close by. Bailey also voices the twins mother Elaina. Taliesin Jaffe as Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, a human gunslinger whose family were once the rulers of Whitestone, a city-state within Tal'Dorei. He barely escaped alive from a coup d'état led by the Briarwoods, and during the first season he sought vengeance for the murder of his family. Jaffe also voices Percy's father Lord Frederick de Rolo. Ashley Johnson as Pike Trickfoot, a gnome cleric of the goddess Everlight who initially struggles to harmonize her faith with her love of violence and other vices. Matthew Mercer as Trinket, a grizzly bear who serves as Vex's pet and companion. Mercer also voices the vampire Lord Sylas Briarwood, the shadow demon Orthax, the black dragon Umbrasyl, and various other background characters throughout the series. A character based on Mercer's likeness appears in every episode of the show as an easter egg. Liam O'Brien as Vax'ildan "Vax" Vessar, a half-elf rogue and the twin brother of Vex'ahlia, the two being very protective of each other. O'Brien also voices the white dragon Vorugal. Marisha Ray as Keyleth of the Air Ashari, a half-elf druid. She is currently undergoing her Aramenté – a quest which acts as the Ashari trial of leadership. Ray also voices the hollow one Laudna. Sam Riegel as Scanlan Shorthalt, a gnome bard and raunchy hedonist whose most frequently useful spell is a giant purple floating hand. Travis Willingham as Grog Strongjaw, a goliath barbarian and the best friend of Pike, known for his incredible might and slow wit.
Episodes
Development Background As part of a sponsorship deal between Critical Role and D&D Beyond in 2018, an animated ad spot for the platform was produced which featured the Mighty Nein characters in combat. The advertisement, which was animated by Kamille and Kevin Areopagita, "opened doors" for The Legend of Vox Machina to be produced.
Kickstarter On March 4, 2019, the Critical Role cast launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a 22-minute animation called Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina Animated Special."Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina Animated Special". Kickstarter. Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina Animated Special. Retrieved March 4, 2019. The animated story was to be set just before the streaming portion of the campaign started—when the players were around level seven—during a time when, canonically, there is an in-game period of roughly six months when the members of Vox Machina were not all together at the same time. The cast projected a cost of US$750,000 for a single 22-minute animated short, fulfilling the other campaign rewards, and the fees associated with a crowdfunding campaign. Not knowing how long this would take to raise, the campaign length was set at 45 days.
Within an hour of launch, the Kickstarter had reached more than $1,000,000. At the end of the first full day, all of the announced stretch goals had been unlocked, and the total had reached more than $4.3 million. With four 22-minute episodes funded in the first 24 hours, additional stretch goals were added, expanding the project into an animated series. The first two episodes would cover the pre-stream story arc. The subsequent episodes would adapt the Briarwoods' arc, also from the Vox Machina campaign. By March 18, 2019, eight 22-minute episodes had been funded."Update #10: $7.5 MILLION". Kickstarter. Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina Animated Special. March 17, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2019. "In just 13 days, you have completely crushed SEVEN stretch goals, raised over $7.5M to help us create The Legend of Vox Machina, and have unlocked EIGHT total episodes of animated goodness. We're also going to host a very special battle royale with some of our favorite guests from our Vox Machina campaign – including Felicia Day, Will Friedle, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Wil Wheaton, Noelle Stevenson, and Patrick Rothfuss (all schedules permitting, of course).
Our next (and final??) stretch goal is $8.8M, and if we're able to hit this goal together, you will unlock another TWO episodes of Briarwoods magic (for a whopping total of TEN The Legend of Vox Machina episodes) and a one-shot GMed by our beloved Ashley Johnson." Finally, on April 4, 2019, the last published stretch goal of $8.8 million was reached during the airing of episode 57 of campaign two, pushing the total length of the animated series to ten episodes. A "secret" $10M stretch goal of Willingham being filmed going around a haunted house was reached April 16."Update #15: $10 MILLION". Kickstarter. Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina Animated Special. April 16, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2019. "Our kinda secret $10M stretch goal is now finally official: Because you wonderful human beings raised over $10M (and counting!) we will take our very own Travis Willingham on a spooky journey through a haunted house. If you know Travis, you know that he's not fond of scary things – in fact, you might say that he's vehemently opposed to all things frightening." The final total raised by the Kickstarter when it closed on April 19, 2019, was $11,385,449 with 88,887 backers."Update #16: THANK YOU". Kickstarter. Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina Animated Special. April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019. "Over the past month and a half, 88,885 Critters from around the world have raised over $11.3M to help us create the animated series of our dreams. What started as a lofty idea of maybe making a few episodes of a cartoon has evolved into something really special: AN ENTIRE SERIES." When the campaign closed, it was one of the most quickly funded in Kickstarter history, and was the most funded Kickstarter for TV and film projects.
A number of the Kickstarter tiers offered production credits. Backers at the $2,500 and higher tiers were given a "crowd funding associate producer" credit in the end credits of the first ten episodes of season one. Those who pledged more than $20,000 were listed as "crowd funding executive producer" on those episodes.
Production The Critical Role cast reprise their respective Vox Machina roles, with the exception of Orion Acaba."Frequently Asked Questions". Kickstarter. Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina Animated Special. Retrieved March 5, 2019. "Will Tiberius appear in The Legend of Vox Machina? Tiberius will not appear in The Legend of Vox Machina." The animated series was written by Jennifer Muro and others with Brandon Auman as the showrunner; the series was animated by Titmouse, Inc with character design by Phil Bourassa and other animation renderings by South Korea's Production Reve. Willingham told Inverse that "it took outsider perspectives to make the stories they told in tabletop comprehensible for newcomers and fresh for existing fans"; Willingham said that "the Briarwood Arc was around 35 hours. We had to squish that down into about six". The music for the series was primarily composed by Neal Acree, with Sam Riegel and Mr. Fantastic contributing to Scanlan's songs.
In November 2019, Amazon Studios announced that they had acquired the streaming rights to The Legend of Vox Machina, and had commissioned 14 additional episodes (two additional episodes for season 1 and a second season of 12 episodes). The cast went with Amazon as it "gave them the most freedom" in developing the show such as keeping it as an adult animation project. Ray, in an interview with Polygon, said "we lucked out with Amazon. There were other potential distributors that we were talking about that were more interested in making it maybe a children's show, or wanting to go a different direction, or [make it into a] more serious political fantasy, a la Game of Thrones". The project was originally slated for release in late 2020; however, in June 2020, it was announced that the debut would be missed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The release was delayed to 2022.
The show was renewed for a third season before the season two premiere. Riegel stated that while pitching the series, the team felt that the show could comprise five seasons and had always intended for five seasons.
Changes from the campaign