The Mighty Nein


The Mighty Nein is an American adult animated fantasy television series produced by Metapigeon, Titmouse and Amazon MGM Studios for Amazon Prime Video. The show is based on campaign two of Critical Role and is set 20 years after the events of the previous Critical Role animated series, The Legend of Vox Machina. Like its predecessor, The Mighty Nein adapts – rather than recreates – the source material.
The show was announced in January 2023, and work on the project had begun by March 2023. The first season premiered on November 19, 2025.

Premise

Setting

The Mighty Nein is set on Exandria, a fictional world created by Matthew Mercer in 2012 for his personal Dungeons & Dragons campaign which later launched as the actual play web series Critical Role in 2015. The story takes place on the continent of Wildemount, which is located to the east of Tal'Dorei, the setting of The Legend of Vox Machina. It takes place 20 years after the events of The Legend of Vox Machina, at a time of very high tensions between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty—two of Wildemount's major powers, which are divided by the Ashkeeper Peaks mountain range—and war is imminent.
Western Wildemount is governed by the Dwendalian Empire and is ruled by King Bertrand Dwendal. A council of powerful archmages called the Cerberus Assembly act as advisors to the House of Dwendal. Trent Ikithon, Archmage of Civic Influence, controls a secret group of wizard assassins known as the Volstrucker. The Empire regards the region of Xhorhas, which occupies the eastern side of the continent, as an inhospitable wasteland. Xhorhas is governed by the Kryn Dynasty, is ruled by the Bright Queen Leylas Kryn, and is primarily home to the drow and other races considered to be monstrous. The Menagerie Coast occupies the southwestern coastline next to the Lucidian Ocean and is governed by the Clovis Concord, a coalition of city-states that includes Nicodranas and Port Damali.

Synopsis

The Mighty Nein follows a group of misfits with troubled pasts and secrets who find themselves drawn together by circumstance. They become entangled in a larger conflict and "must work together to save the realm" after a "powerful arcane relic known as The Beacon falls into dangerous hands".

Cast and characters

Main

The cast reprised their roles from the Critical Role actual play show:
  • Laura Bailey as Jester Lavorre, a mischievous tiefling cleric who follows an unseen deity known as "The Traveler"
  • Taliesin Jaffe as Mollymauk "Molly" Tealeaf, a tiefling blood hunter who works as a tarot card reader in a traveling carnival. In an interview with Paste, Jaffe expressed gratitude that the animated series would give the opportunity to explore Molly's backstory, given the character's death early in the original campaign
  • Ashley Johnson as Yasha Nydoorin, an aasimar barbarian and mercenary from the wastes of Xhorhas within the Kryn Dynasty
  • Matthew Mercer as Essek Thelyss, a drow wizard from the Kryn Dynasty who is involved in high level machinations between the Dynasty and the Empire while hiding that his mother has typhros
  • Liam O'Brien as Caleb Widogast, a scruffy human wizard with a command of fire-based magic. Born as Bren Aldric Ermendrud, he underwent training to become a Volstrucker under Trent Ikithon's tutelage at the Soltryce Academy. O'Brien's studies abroad lead to ZemnianCaleb's mother tonguebeing based on a "classic or old version of German"
  • Marisha Ray as Beauregard "Beau" Lionett, a human monk from the Cobalt Soul who is skilled in martial arts and investigative work
  • Sam Riegel as Nott the Brave, a goblin rogue who is specialized in stealth and crossbow combat but suffers from alcoholism stemming from trying to self-medicate her body dysmorphia. In an interview with Radio Times, Riegel stated that Nott was, in part, created to "reflect the trans experience"
  • Travis Willingham as Fjord Stone, an orphaned half-orc warlock and sailor who unknowingly gains magical abilities after surviving a shipwreck. Willingham told Paste that Fjord's journey is one of a naive and "more ordinary" person exploring the world for answers having unwittingly obtained mystical powers
Additionally, the main cast voices other minor characters throughout the series.

Supporting

  • Bennett Abara as Owelia, a halfling Volstrucker
  • Lucy Liu as Empress Leylas Kryn, the Bright Queen of the Kryn Dynasty
  • Graham McTavish as King Bertrand Dwendal, King of the Dwendalian Empire
  • T'Nia Miller as Vess DeRogna, the Archmage of Antiquity for the Cerberus Assembly
  • RedChild as Eadwulf Grieve, a Volstrucker and one of Caleb's former romantic partners from their time at the Soltryce Academy
  • Ivanna Sakhno as Astrid Becke, a Volstrucker and one of Caleb's former romantic partners from their time at the Soltryce Academy
  • Mark Strong as Trent Ikithon, the Archmage of Civil Influence for the Cerberus Assembly who the Volstruckers report to
  • Ming-Na Wen as Dairon, an elf Expositor in the Cobalt Soul who is investigating misconduct connected to both the Cerberus Assembly and the Cobalt Soul
  • Anjelica Huston as Deitra Thelyss, Essek's mother who is head of Den Thelyss and secretly suffering from typhros
  • Rahul Kohli as Verrat, an orc general in the Kryn Dynasty who has reincarnated multiple times due to the Luxon Beacon
  • Nathan Fillion as "The Gentleman", a water genasi crime boss in Zadash who runs a fencing and smuggling network

    Episodes

Development

Background

The Mighty Nein is an adaptation of the second campaign of the actual play web series Critical Role. As part of a sponsorship deal between Critical Role and D&D Beyond in 2018, an animated ad spot for the platform was produced which featured the Mighty Nein characters in combat. The animated ad "opened doors" for The Legend of Vox Machina, the first Critical Role animation adaptation, to be produced. In January 2023, it was announced that Critical Role Productions had signed a first-look deal with Amazon Studios to create film and television series, while also announcing an animated series based on the Mighty Nein campaign. Variety reported that "under the deal with Amazon Studios, Critical Role will continue to produce under its production banner, Metapigeon".

Casting

The Critical Role player cast reprise their roles from the second campaign. On July 22, 2025, it was reported that Matthew Mercer, Critical Role dungeon master, would reprise his role as Essek Thelyss. Entertainment Weekly noted that "the 'Hidden Matt Mercer' trend definitely continues on The Mighty Nein, i.e. Critical Role Dungeon Master voicing various background roles on the show, as he did on The Legend of Vox Machina". Additionally, the other main cast members, "as well as the extended Critical Role family, play their part in voicing various one-off characters".
On July 24, 2025, it was announced that Auliʻi Cravalho, Alan Cumming, Robbie Daymond, Jonathan Frakes, Rahul Kohli, Tim McGraw, Anika Noni Rose, Mark Strong, and Ming-Na Wen would be guest voice actors. On October 9, 2025, Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion, Anjelica Huston, Lucy Liu, Graham McTavish, T'Nia Miller, and Ivanna Sakhno were announced as additional guest voice actors.

Production

In early March 2023, Critical Role cast member Liam O'Brien stated to ComicBook.com that work on The Mighty Nein project had begun. Voice acting had begun by June 8, 2024, according to a post on X. In a October 2024 interview, cast member and executive producer Travis Willingham stated that the writing for the first season was completed and that progress on the show was "definitely more than halfway done". In June 2025, Willingham stated that they had "recorded the entire first and second season".
The cast were involved in the character design process. Cast member and executive producer Sam Riegel commented that The Mighty Nein will be "tonally different" from their first animated adaptation The Legend of Vox Machina. Showrunner and executive producer Tasha Huo similarly stated that the Mighty Nein "reflects a more mature, more elevated storytelling" than the previous series and this show has "more drama" and "more filmmaking involved". Huo noted that they tried "to treat the show like a live-action show, which is tonally different than Vox Machina, but still keeping within the same world". Willingham explained that this adaptation "is from the get-go a complete departure" and that "you're coming into the characters that you love, but a totally new story". Among the changes are the deaths of characters who survived in the original campaign, a deliberate decision by the creators to establish a darker tone for the series. In an October 2025 interview with Polygon, Willingham explained that The Mighty Nein would be slower paced than the first two seasons of The Legend of Vox Machinacomparing the approach to the new show to "starting from a session zero perspective."
Entertainment Weekly highlighted that The Mighty Nein will take a similar approach to the character Essek Thelyss as The Legend of Vox Machina series did with its "more nefarious characters", such as the Briarwoods, by "showing story material that happened 'off screen' ". Willingham commented that this approach will show the audience "the machinations both happening in the Empire and the Dynasty, all the things moving behind the scenes, and really who was Essek" and how he ended up "in the place where he was, moving these large pieces and affecting a large portion of the world in The Mighty Nein".
In a December 2025 interview with ScreenRant, Riegel stated that post-production on the second season was in progress and "one or two episodes" were completed. He hoped that the season would premiere in 2026. a release date for season two has yet to be announced.