The Mighty Nein: A Journey of Adventure and Destiny

If your heart has been stolen by the group of mercenaries known as Vox Machina, you’re bound to love the Mighty Nein. Better yet, this group is now starring in an animated series courtesy of Critical Role and Amazon Prime Video.

The success of The Legend of Vox Machina has paved the way for adaptations of other Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, which have been streaming on Critical Role social media channels.

In The Mighty Nein, we will hear the original cast of the web series that also dubbed the characters in Vox Machina. Showrunner Tasha Huo is at the helm of the animated show, ensuring that it maintains the dark and tongue-in-cheek tone.

If you want to know what to expect from The Mighty Nein, check out our review.

Is The Mighty Nein based on Dungeons & Dragons?

Yes. While Vox Machina is the first campaign of the Dungeons & Dragons web series known as Critical Role, The Mighty Nein is the second. It kicked off in January 2018 and concluded in June 2021, consisting of a total of 141 episodes.

As with Vox Machina, The Mighty Nein is set in a high fantasy, eclectic world named Exandria – though on a different continent. In the new series, we’ll leave the already well-known land of Tal’Dorei, and move to Wildemount. Located on the northeast, the continent is split into several states and geographical areas.

The Dwendalian Empire is a powerful country in the west, known for its cold weather. Xhorhas, dominated by the Kryn Dynasty, is inhabited by dark elves, orcs, goblins, tieflings, and kobolds. On the Menagerie Coast, the confederation of city-states deals in trade and cultural freedom. The floating archipelago of free cities, known as Draconia, was once the homeland of humanoid creatures called the Dragonborn.

When will The Mighty Nein be released?

The Mighty Nein debuted on Prime Video on Wednesday, 19 November 2025, with a three-episode premiere. The next episodes will land on the service weekly.

The spin-off of Vox Machina was announced in January 2023. In October 2024, Travis Willingham, the co-producer of The Legend of Vox Machina, revealed that the work on The Mighty Nein is halfway done (via Polygon):

We have written all of season 1. The storyboards are all being locked, if they haven’t been already. So it’s off to our overseas studio. We’re getting animation tests back and seeing things come back in color. We’ve designed all the characters. The magical spells and effects are being considered. We’re talking about music, and how it’s going to be different from Vox.

The Mighty Nein episode release schedule

Here’s when all episodes of the series will premiere:

• Episode 1, 2 and 3: Wednesday, 19 November 2025, 12am PST / 3am EST / 8am GMT
• Episode 4: Wednesday, 26 November 2025, 12am PST / 3am EST / 8am GMT
• Episode 5: Wednesday, 3 December 2025, 12am PST / 3am EST / 8am GMT
• Episode 6: Wednesday, 10 December 2025, 12am PST / 3am EST / 8am GMT
• Episode 7: Wednesday, 17 December 2025, 12am PST / 3am EST / 8am GMT
• Episode 8: Wednesday, 24 December 2025, 12am PST / 3am EST / 8am GMT

Who are the characters of The Mighty Nein?

The new animated series features seven protagonists:

• Nott The Brave, voiced by Sam Riegel, was previously a halfling woman who, as a result of a curse, turned into a goblin.
• Caleb Widogast, voiced by Liam O’Brien, is a traumatised human wizard trained as an assassin for the Dwendalian Empire.
• Fjord Stone, voiced by Travis Willingham, is a half-orc sailor who comes into possession of mysterious magical powers.
• Beauregard Lionett, voiced by Marisha Ray, is a human monk working for the Order of the Cobalt Soul.
• Jester Lavorre, voiced by Laura Bailey, is a tiefling cleric who follows an invisible deity known as the Traveler.
• Mollymauk Tealeaf, voiced by Taliesin Jaffe, is a tiefling tarot reader working in a travelling circus.
• Yasha Nydoorin, voiced by Ashley Johnson, is a barbarian, exiled from her homeland, Xhorhas, for breaking her clan’s marriage traditions.

Additionally, Matt Mercer voices Essek Thelyss, a dark elf and the wizard from the Kryn Dynasty.

The series voice cast also features:

• Mark Strong
• Alan Cumming
• Tim McGraw
• Anika Noni Rose
• Ming-Na Wen
• Auli’i Cravalho
• Rahul Kohli
• Jonathan Frakes
• Robbie Daymond

What is the plot of The Mighty Nein about?

The new animation is set around 20 years after the events of Vox Machina. The official logline for the series reads:

The Mighty Nein’ follows a group of fugitives and outcasts, bound by secrets and scars. But when a powerful arcane relic known as ‘The Beacon’ falls into dangerous hands, they must learn to work together to save the realm and stop reality itself from unraveling.

According to Willingham, The Mighty Nein will show how the main characters met, rather than presenting them as a group from the beginning (via Entertainment Weekly):

We like to scratch all sorts of itches. With The Legend of Vox Machina, we started with our heroes altogether at once. We really want to buy into who these characters are from The Mighty Nein and how they come together slowly — as pairs, sometimes staying lone wolves for as long as possible, and really fighting for what it is they’re looking to achieve in the story. That’s the thing that really is going to separate Mighty Nein from Vox. You’ll see all of them fighting for their own goals and really resisting working together as a team for quite a long while.

Tasha Huo, the showrunner, added:

A big thing that drew me to that show was just the trauma of all the characters. So the show reflects a more mature, more elevated storytelling. There’s more drama, there is more filmmaking involved.

When producing the show, we make a conscious effort to approach it as if it were a live-action series, creating a tone that differs from Vox Machina while still staying true to the same world.

Entertainment Weekly’s shared photos have given us a glimpse into the plot of season 1, which will revolve around Essek Thelyss, an elven wizard characterized as charming and enigmatic. Known as Shadowhand for his expertise in dark mysteries and arcana, Essek’s character will be further developed in the TV series, adding new layers to his persona not seen in the original game.

Travis Willingham, a voice actor, mentioned that viewers can expect to delve into the intricate workings of both the Empire and the Dynasty, exploring the backstory of Essek and his significant role in The Mighty Nein.

The upcoming Amazon series will be filled with jokes and easter eggs to delight dedicated fans of Critical Role. Sam Riegel, also a voice actor and co-executive producer, assured that beloved gags, inside jokes, and memorable moments from Campaign 2 will be preserved and incorporated into the animated adaptation, promising a nostalgic treat for fans.

A trailer for The Mighty Nein has already been released, introducing the audience to the diverse group of unlikely heroes featured in the series. Additionally, Amazon unveiled three clips teasing the show, offering glimpses into the characters and the animation process.

At Comic-Con 2025 in San Diego, Amazon presented an amusing sneak peek of the series, setting the stage for what fans can expect. The clips released in 2023 provided further insight into the characters and showcased the progress of the animation.

For more information on The Mighty Nein and related articles, stay tuned for updates and announcements.