The Legend of Vox Machina recently kicked off its fourth season, and with only one season left in its planned five-season run, it is worth looking back at just how remarkable an achievement the series has been. Bringing an animated spin-off based on an actual play podcast to life is something that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago. Yet Critical Role, the group of voice actors who turned to Kickstarter and earned overwhelming fan support, made it a reality.
Today, Critical Role’s actual play sessions are watched by audiences around the world, and its cast has built careers that span gaming, television and even the latest Final Fantasy VII release. One thing remains certain: the chemistry and passion of the cast have made Critical Role something truly special.
CGMagazine was fortunate to take part in the press junket for the latest season and speak with the full cast, including Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Travis Willingham, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Ashley Johnson, Matthew Mercer and Taliesin Jaffe, about all things The Legend of Vox Machina. With a dramatically different direction for the series and several new characters joining the story, this season promises to be one of the show’s most exciting yet. The cast shared what fans can expect as they dive into the latest chapter.
The Legend of Vox Machina began as an actual play campaign. How does it feel to see it come this far, and how have fans responded to the series?
Sam Riegel: The show was born from fan support through a Kickstarter, and so the fans are first and foremost in our thoughts whenever we make a new season or new episode. We set out to make something that we know they’ll like, but we also are fortunate enough to have many new fans and new people who have discovered the show on Prime Video or who have discovered D&D and role-playing games.
And it’s so exciting to be able to make something that fans new and old can enjoy, and this season specifically is perfect for that, because it’s starting off on a new season. So even if you haven’t seen seasons one, two, and three, this storyline begins with the first episode of season four, so you can pick right up here and go along with our characters in discovering it.
Laura Bailey: And you get a really nice introduction to all the characters at the beginning of episode one of season four, as well.
Liam O’Brien: It’s definitely been wild that we were a group of voice acting professionals who came together to do something in our off time, in our leisure time, and then have that leisure activity become a culmination in our lives and careers, and then touch so many people’s lives around the world. Inexplicable.
Going into season 4 of The Legend of Vox Machina, what are you most excited for fans to take away from this latest season?
Travis Willingham: I think some subverted expectations about what we know of these characters after three seasons. You know, it’s up to us to make sure that we’re giving somebody a fresh look and keeping them invested in the story. So, you’re definitely going to get the twins at their best. Keyleth and her followers are going to be so happy. Percy is just going to find a way to bring all of his family members back. It’s just going to be joy and happiness everywhere.
Marisha Ray: You’ll get to see Percy smile, like, once, and it’s going to blow your mind.
Travis Willingham: No chance.
Marisha Ray: No, I’m excited for fans to see the kind of new injection, the new fresh life of Taryon Darrington. It’s going to be good.
Ashley Johnson: And we have Andy Serkis.
Marisha Ray: We do have Serkis. Oh, Andy Serkis.
Ashley Johnson: This is another thing that we’re very excited about. This is my favourite season; I’m going to say it now.
Has working on The Legend of Vox Machina, along with the success of Critical Role, changed how you approach voice acting and actual play?
Laura Bailey: I don’t know if it’s changed the way we approach, at least for me, the way I approach voice acting, but I know that the time we’ve spent at the table and the time we’ve spent kind of dropping into these characters and actual play has helped me as an actor in general become more emotionally ready and emotionally available for anything.
Because, you know, you’ll be goofing around at the table, and then suddenly it’s a very serious moment, and you just have to drop in and be ready for it. And it just helps as an actor being able to do that in a scene, voiceover or otherwise.
Liam O’Brien: It’s possible that 11 to 15 years of straight improv might be good for acting.
Sam Riegel: For life.
The cast chemistry is such a huge part of both Critical Role and The Legend of Vox Machina. How does recording together compare to working on a show where everyone is recording separately?
Laura Bailey: The beauty of [The Legend of Vox Machina] is that we recorded together, for the most part.
Sam Riegel: We record these episodes together with all of us in the room, even if we’re not in the scenes together, even if we’re not even in the episode. We still show up for each other and have that sense of camaraderie. We laugh at each other’s stupid jokes, we tease each other as we record, and it makes everything feel like a real group of friends, which is what Vox Machina is, and what we, as Critical Role, are.
Laura Bailey: And I think Taliesin really wanted to say how much he enjoys performing with me, specifically.
Sam Riegel: I can tell by his facial features that he is definitely talking about Laura. Happy birthday, congratulating her on her BAFTA, wanting to make sure that made it into the article.
@cgmagazine Critical Role Cast Talks Bringing More Emotion to Vox Machina #CriticalRole ♬ original sound – CGM
I can make sure that gets there.
Laura Bailey: Thank you. Thank you.
Taliesin Jaffe: Laura Bailey is really why I stick around; it’s the crux of it. No, I mean, our chemistry in the room is very similar to our chemistry at the table. We are making stuff up. We sometimes will laugh so hard while recording these shows that we will fall on the ground. I have video of some of us curled in pain on the ground, laughing so hard from the shit we’ve done. We’ll cry in that room. If anything, it’s slightly more private than the actual live play, which is interesting.
Ashley Johnson: Yeah, it’s a dream, and I think it’s absolutely paramount to what we do. And it is what we did at the gaming table, and so to put us in a booth together, it’s everything. And also what comes out of that, because in the moment, something else may come up that, you know, we wouldn’t be able to do if we were recording by ourselves.
Travis Willingham: Yeah, I think it’s like two different muscles. You definitely need the muscle as an actor to be able to, in your mind, imagine or create the performance of the character that’s reading before you and after you, and then, working with your director and the rest of the production team, elicit a performance that will fit into that spot.
And then it’s a different muscle to be able to react to what actually is going to come at you. I think for us, we have the advantage of being such close friends and knowing each other’s energy and chemistry and reads, and there’s no fear to get in the way of an idea coming up, or a read that might come out of nowhere, or a line suggestion. That’s always kind of the beauty of it, is it can be as chaotic as it needs to be to shine in its own special way.
Marisha Ray: Yeah, I think every session there’ll be some improv lines that definitely make it into the final version, and those are hard to get if you’re not doing it organically.
Matthew Mercer: Absolutely.
@cgmagazine Critical Role Cast Talks Splitting Up Vox Machina In Season 4
♬ original sound – CGM
This season of The Legend of Vox Machina is a bit of a departure from past seasons, with Vox Machina starting off apart before regrouping. No spoilers, but how did working on this season compare with past seasons, when they were together more often?
Matthew Mercer: I think part of that was trying to, or the joy and the challenge of taking the pre-existing story that we experienced at the table those years ago and mete out these various narrative beats that we want for the season across the group being scattered, and figure out how to make these revelations be the proverbial thread that ties them all back together again.
So, it was a fun challenge to do so, but also allowed us the opportunity to explore them independently, because we haven’t seen them really apart. This gave us an opportunity to see how they exist, how they are in this pseudo-isolated space, and does it make them better, or does it make them worse?
Do they miss the people? Do they see themselves as pulled down by their machinations? You know, it’s a lot of internal and independent explorations of the characters outside of what Vox Machina is, and then eventually, hopefully, what that means to them, outside of just the dangers of all the rising stakes. So that was a fun little bit to put together.
Sam Riegel: This is a different season than all others in the past, because Vox Machina is starting apart. They all have their own individual goals, their own individual regrets and stuff, and so the first half of the season is really just them coming together and figuring out what it’s like to be a team again, which is really going to be interesting for the audience to see them work out all their shit with each other and with themselves.
And so you’re going to see a lot of character growth, maybe not the direction that you see that you want them to grow in. And I’ll say this without spoiling anything: some of the characters do not make good decisions this season and end much, much worse off than when they began. So buckle up for a bumpy ride that might not just be a fun one.
You’ve been living with these characters for many years. How has working on The Legend of Vox Machina changed your understanding of who they are, if at all, and how do you think they have grown going into this season?
Matthew Mercer: I imagine, to a degree, it’s even further defined since we lived with them this long, how much of a part of ourselves these characters are now.
But the adaptation also allowed us opportunities to explore facets of them with unique perspective. You know, Ashley Johnson’s character, Pike, for a lot of the original campaign, we didn’t have her with us because she was off in New York filming another TV show, and so in this degree, this season allowed us an opportunity for us and her to get to know more about Pike that we didn’t get the chance to do originally.
So in some degree, it’s comfortable to just be with them even longer. We love these characters so much, but the adaptation allows us to get to explore them in ways that we haven’t had the opportunity yet.
For longtime Critical Role fans and newer viewers coming to The Legend of Vox Machina, what are you most excited for them to experience this season?
Laura Bailey: I mean, he stole our hearts and steals the show. He’s amazing. I’m so excited for fans to get to see the—are you allowed to say it? The Battle of the Bards.
Liam O’Brien: We’re singing.
Laura Bailey: I’m excited for them to see the way that certain relationships grow, because I think, at least for Vex, we haven’t really gotten to showcase too much of the relationship between her and Keyleth, and I think in this season we get to see some really fun moments between those two. And I’m very happy we got to go there.
Sam Riegel: I’m also particularly—I think fans will be excited, Critical Role fans will be excited that there is some campaign three love—
Taliesin Jaffe: My favourite Easter eggs.
Sam Riegel: —into this season. So, yeah, you’re gonna get quite a treat.
Taliesin Jaffe: Ah, you beat me to it.
Travis Willingham: There are new creations, new connections, new surprises waiting for anyone that knows the entirety of the Vox Machina livestream campaign. We’ve done this on purpose, and we are well aware of the risk, and we are well aware of the panic that may ensue when you do not know what is going to happen next. And guess what, kids, that was intentional.
So we are very excited to see where it goes, but we promise you that we have a plan for where it’s going, and that if you take the ride with us, it will terrify you every step of the way. And also, we get a really awesome heist episode written by Marisha and Liam that’s also incredible. The heist episode, baby!
Marisha Ray: Yeah.
Thank you all so much. I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve seen of this season of The Legend of Vox Machina so far, and I’m excited for everyone else to experience it as well.
Laura Bailey: Thanks, Brendan. Thank you.