An epic, livestreamed 鈥淒ungeons & Dragons鈥� game has again become the basis for a new animated show.
鈥淓very step of this journey has been unexpected,鈥� said , original 鈥淐ritical Role鈥� cast member who reprised his role for the new series, 鈥淭he Mighty Nein.鈥� 鈥淭he best thing we鈥檝e ever done in our lives is making these shows and telling these stories and inspiring other people to play games like we do.鈥�
鈥淭he Mighty Nein鈥� premieres on Prime Video Wednesday 鈥� the on the platform.
鈥淚t took several years for us to even dream up this potentially becoming an animated series, and it鈥檚 only because of the support of our audience from a crowd-sourcing campaign,鈥� said , cast member and CEO of Critical Role Productions. 鈥淏ecause of that, we get to go out and find true nerds like [showrunner] Tasha Huo that have a perspective on how we can economize and change things up not just for our existing audience, but for anybody that鈥檚 coming to 鈥楥ritical Role鈥� for the very first time.鈥�
, a 鈥淐ritical Role鈥� fan known for of the 鈥淭omb Raider鈥� video game franchise, had her work cut out for her. Thankfully, her team had plenty of experience condensing hundreds of hours of a livestreamed role-playing game into a TV series.
鈥淲e know how the process works and we know storywise what does and doesn鈥檛 work,鈥� said Huo. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e perfecting our craft in 鈥楾he Mighty Nein,鈥� which is awesome to see.鈥�
Where did the name 鈥淭he Mighty Nein鈥� come from?
Travis Willingham: 鈥溾�楾he Mighty Nein鈥� is a beautiful play on words. We have a character in the show, Caleb Widogast, who speaks Zemnian. And because his creator, , was a foreign exchange student and a fan of the German language younger in life, he decided to make Zemnian in our world a more classic or old version of German.
鈥淎nd we have to tip our hat to the amazing Sam Riegel, who on a text thread famously shared amongst the cast, he said, 鈥榃hat about The Mighty Nein?鈥� And it鈥檚 so trollish. It doesn鈥檛 make any sense. There certainly aren鈥檛 nine of us, and it causes just enough eyebrows to go up when people say it that we knew it was perfect.鈥�
Sam, you play Nott the Brave, a female goblin thief. It seems obvious that you鈥檙e not a goblin.
Sam Riegel: 鈥淥h. Does it? How many goblins have you met?鈥�
Well, I guess that鈥檚 kind of the beauty of roleplaying here! It鈥檚 kind of easy to have cover to play someone of a different gender. I just was curious how you think your voice fits the character, now that you鈥檙e in a different medium?
Riegel: 鈥淵ou really hit the nail on the head. It鈥檚 fun to play these games and also to do animation because voice actors like me and Travis, we get to play characters that we would never get to play in live action television or in film. I鈥檓 playing a little goblin girl. Travis is playing a half-orc green guy with huge pecs. Now, he does have huge pecs in real life also, but that鈥檚 beside the point.
鈥淚t really gives us a chance to explore different characterizations that we would never get to otherwise. The character of Nott is really special to me because she鈥檚 a ball of nerves and she is a bit crazed. But she also has some deep secrets and some reveals that come later in the series that really humanize her in some unexpected ways.鈥�
You mentioned Travis鈥檚 character, who has swole pecs. He鈥檚 a stranded sailor named Fjord. Throughout the early episodes, this character is called weak. But, Tasha, you gave him a lot of muscles. Are you playing on this dissonance for laughs?
Willingham: 鈥淎 little bit. I think it鈥檚 more of an origin from the livestream episodes years and years ago. There was a great undercurrent of Sam鈥檚 character, Nott the Brave, the little goblin girl, loving to poke at Fjord, being a half-orc and being a stronger-looking guy. But he seemed to classically fail at strength checks over and over and over.
鈥淪omething about the character of Fjord is that he鈥檚 really trying to figure out who he is in this world after being separated from his crew and captain. I think we can say he鈥檚 probably overcompensating and trying to show off not just his muscles, but his ability to lead or make decisions or act like he knows what鈥檚 going on in the world. So I think Nott senses that and is using any opportunity to humble him鈥�.
Tasha Huo: 鈥淚 think that gets to something too that makes the show so special, even though it is a goblin girl and it is a half-orc. We鈥檙e looking at characters that aren鈥檛 human at all. There is something very human about all of them.
鈥淣ott is dealing with a serious issue of alcoholism. A lot of her story is about where does that come from? And with Fjord, something that鈥檚 really fun to explore is insecurity, where it can come from, whether it鈥檚 real or not. You have people around him who don鈥檛 see that, and he sees it in himself. That鈥檚 always the biggest battle, right? It鈥檚 amazing that it鈥檚 a D&D high fantasy show, but everything is just really very human and relatable.鈥�
Tasha, what is it like for someone who was a fan who saw this in your head, to bring it to life and now to actually see it live in the world?
Huo: 鈥淚t鈥檚 fan fiction, basically! They鈥檙e just letting me write fan fiction, thanks, Sam and Travis! Having fallen in love with all the characters and the story for so many years already and desperately trying to get all of my friends to watch the show, and then they look at the time code, and it says 4 hours per episode, and they run the other way. This is a chance to say this is why I was obsessed with this.鈥�
The way you just described that, it鈥檚 almost like an interpretation? You have this thing that you love and then you鈥檙e putting it through your lens and then sharing it with the people that you love.
Huo: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a totally different format, right? What these guys have done is create a live improv show because they are very talented voice actors. What we had to do in the show is tell a more contained, linear story. And if you鈥檝e ever play a tabletop RPG, it鈥檚 absolutely bonkers. What you expect to happen in a given game never actually happens, and you go in crazy directions. With the show, we had to find some rails and find that common narrative that does exist in the show.鈥�
We鈥檙e living in a kind of a golden age for fantasy media for adults. 鈥淭he Mighty Nein鈥� is dark, it鈥檚 raunchy sometimes. It鈥檚 often super funny and catches you off guard. I鈥檓 curious what media inspired you as you went to work on this and to build this world?
Riegel: 鈥淲e鈥檙e sort of in the golden age of adult animation right now, too, with shows like 鈥楢rcane鈥� and 鈥楤lue Eye Samurai鈥� and 鈥業nvincible鈥� and our other show, 鈥楾he Legend of Vox Machina.鈥� There鈥檚 a lot of interest and excitement around animated series that can transport you to other worlds and look at serious themes and also have nudity and poop jokes, but tell compelling stories. It鈥檚 just another way that everyone is discovering they can enjoy stories like these. It doesn鈥檛 always have to be $10 million episode budgets starring film actors who are between films. It can be smaller productions with voice actors as stars and homegrown stories like ours.鈥�
Huo: 鈥淚鈥檓 just so proud of this show, guys. To come at it as a fan nerd girl and to then produce something that is just such a great story. It鈥檚 so compelling. People who have never even heard of D&D will watch it and love it. And that is my greatest joy.鈥�
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and produced and edited this interview for broadcast with . Perkins-Mastromarino adapted it for the web.
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