Mythic Quest


Mythic Quest is an American comedy television series created by Charlie Day, Megan Ganz, and Rob McElhenney for Apple TV+. The series premiered on February 7, 2020, and follows a fictional video game studio that produces a popular MMORPG called Mythic Quest.
In January 2020, ahead of its first season premiere, the series was renewed for a second season. A special episode, "Quarantine", was released in May 2020, and a second special episode, "Everlight", was released in April 2021. The second season premiered in May 2021. In October 2021, the series was renewed for a third and fourth season, which premiered in November 2022 and January 2025 respectively. In April 2025, the series was canceled after four seasons, and the fourth season finale received an updated ending.
A spinoff series, Side Quest, premiered in March 2025.

Premise

The series follows a fictional video game studio that produces Mythic Quest, a popular MMORPG, run by the game's creator and creative director Ian Grimm. At the start of the series, the studio is about to release a major expansion pack to the game, Raven's Banquet. Ian argues with lead engineer Poppy Li ; executive producer David Brittlesbee and head of monetization Brad Bakshi about aspects of developing the game.

Cast and characters

Main

Season 1: ''Raven's Banquet'' (2020)

Specials (2020–21)

Season 2 (2021)

Season 3 (2022–23)

Season 4 (2025)

Production

Development

On August 9, 2018, it was announced that Apple had given a series order to a new half-hour comedy series written by Rob McElhenney, Megan Ganz, and Charlie Day, all of whom also serve as executive producers alongside Michael Rotenberg, Nicholas Frenkel, Gérard Guillemot, Jason Altman, and Danielle Kreinik. Production companies involved with the series consist of RCG Productions, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Ubisoft Film & Television.
McElhenney said the concept of the show resulted from a discussion video game developer Ubisoft had with him about producing a television show around video games. McElhenney had been invited to Ubisoft Montreal to discuss the project, and though he was initially hesitant, as he toured the studio, he saw the potential vision for the show. Since then, Ubisoft has assisted in designing the video game characters and game world, as well as providing other art assets for the show. Ubisoft also helped the writers with details of video game development to stay authentic to industry approaches.
The series was renewed for a second season ahead of the first season premiere. In October 2021, the series was renewed for a third and fourth season.
On April 11, 2025, the series was canceled after four seasons and the fourth season finale received an updated ending the following week, on April 17.

Casting

was confirmed to star in the series at the time of the initial series announcement, and F. Murray Abraham, Imani Hakim, David Hornsby, Danny Pudi, Ashly Burch, Charlotte Nicdao and Jessie Ennis subsequently joined the cast. Anthony Hopkins played the narrator in the special "Everlight". Humphrey Ker, Snoop Dogg, and Derek Waters guest starred in the second season. In April 2022, it was announced that F. Murray Abraham had exited the series and would not return for the third season. Abraham had previously been warned after an allegation of sexual misconduct on the show's set, and was let go from the show after a second allegation against him was brought to McElhenney. Abraham issued a public apology for making jokes that offended his former colleagues. The third season saw Joe Manganiello appear in a guest role.

Filming

Filming of the first season concluded by March 2019. A special, titled Mythic Quest: Quarantine, was written, shot, and edited in just three weeks, all remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, using products supplied by Apple, such as iPhones.
The second season suspended production in November 2020 after positive COVID-19 tests of production team members. The following month it was further reported that while McElhenney claimed "to date there remains ZERO evidence of any transmission at work", at least 12 members of the production staff that worked in close contact with one another had contracted COVID-19, marking the second cluster of COVID-19 cases linked to the Mythic Quest production, and prompting another production suspension.
During a Mythic Quest panel at the Television Critics Association's Winter Press Tour in February 2021, McElhenney stated that he "did not want to be known as the person who got F. Murray Abraham very, very ill", elaborating that Abraham's character was continuing to work remotely for the first few episodes, and did not actually shoot in person until episode seven of the second season, where COVID testing occurred "as many times as five days a week," and Abraham's scenes only included "very small amounts of people on camera". By March 2021, a total of 26 crew members of Mythic Quest came down with COVID-19, making it "the worst outbreak of any show in Los Angeles".
The fourth season started production in March 2024, after having been delayed because of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike and wrapped on May 4, 2024.

Release

On June 10, 2019, a trailer for the series was presented by McElhenney at Ubisoft's E3 2019 press conference, where he announced that Mythic Quest would premiere in the fall of 2019. On December 18, 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere on February 7, 2020.
The first season consisting of nine episodes was released on February 7, 2020. A special episode focusing on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was released on May 22, 2020. A second special was released on April 16, 2021, prior to the second season premiere. The second season premiered on May 7, 2021, with episodes released weekly.
The third season premiered on November 11, 2022, with an expanded episode order of ten episodes. The fourth season premiered on January 29, 2025.

Reception

Critical response

Season 1

The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 90% approval rating, based on 39 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "While it relies too heavily on the workplace comedy formula, Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet is nonetheless hilarious and stands out for exploring the gaming industry with intelligence, thoughtfulness, and sincerity." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on reviews from 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".