The cast of the Critical Role podcast gave fans a preview of what to expect from The Legend of Vox Machina animated series by performing a live read of a scene from the upcoming animated series.
The new clip shows the eponymous group of self-described "second-rate" adventurers at a tavern, where one of their friendly drinking contests escalates into an all-out bar brawl. In addition to showing off the vocal talents of the Critical Role cast, the clip also showcases the new series' art style and the new look of its characters, which were redesigned by Phil Bourassa, the artist best known for his work on numerous DC animated projects, such as Young Justice, Batman: Bad Blood and Justice League. In addition to the live read, the show's New York Comic-Con panel also revealed a final premiere date and the title sequence for the animated series: Feb. 4, 2022.
The show is an adaptation of the tabletop role-playing sessions hosted by Critical Role, a popular web series that features an all-star cast of voice actors from the animation and video game industry playing through RPG campaigns with each other. The series' Vox Machina campaign featured Demon Slayer and Resident Evil's Matthew Mercer as the dungeon master, with Laura Bailey (Dragon Ball Z, Spider-Man), Taliesin Jaffe (Mobile Suit Gundam: Unicorn, One Piece), Ashley Johnson (Blindspot, The Last of Us Part II), Liam O’Brien (Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sailor Moon Crystal), Marisha Ray (Persona 4: Arena, Fire Emblem), Sam Riegel (Sanjay and Craig, Winx Club) and Travis Willingham (Sonic the Hedgehog, Fullmetal Alchemist) playing the roles of the Vox Machina adventuring party. The players from the original campaign are all reprising the roles of their RPG characters, and they will also serve as the executive producers for the new animated series.
The Legend of Vox Machina was originally announced as a one-off, 22 minute animated special. In 2019, Critical Role launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the special, initially asking for $750,000 USD. Their goal was met within the first hour, and by the end of the campaign a month and a half later, a whopping $11 million USD was raised for the project. Later that year, it was announced that Amazon Studios had become a partner on a project and that the animated special was now being expanded into a two-season animated series to be released exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Amazon Studios