The Mighty Nein: What You Need to Know
- The Mighty Nein is set to debut on Prime Video in autumn 2025
- This animated series is based on the popular D&D campaign from Critical Role
- Amazon has released a sneak peek introducing the series’ characters
If you’re a fan of the mercenaries known as Vox Machina, then get ready to fall in love with The Mighty Nein. This group is now taking center stage in an animated series brought to you by Critical Role and Amazon Prime Video.
Following the success of The Legend of Vox Machina, other Dungeons & Dragons campaigns are being adapted for the screen, with many of them originally streaming on Critical Role’s social media channels.
The Mighty Nein will feature the original cast from the web series who also voiced the characters in Vox Machina. Showrunner Tasha Huo is leading the charge to ensure the animated show captures the dark and whimsical tone of the original campaign.
Is The Mighty Nein based on Dungeons & Dragons?
Yes, The Mighty Nein is the second campaign of the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role, following the adventures of Vox Machina. This campaign began in January 2018 and concluded in June 2021, spanning a total of 141 episodes.
Similar to Vox Machina, The Mighty Nein is set in a high fantasy world called Exandria, but this time on a different continent. The story takes place in Wildemount, a region northeast of the familiar land of Tal’Dorei. Wildemount is divided into various states and geographic areas.
The Dwendalian Empire is a formidable nation in the west known for its harsh climate. Xhorhas, ruled by the Kryn Dynasty, is home to dark elves, orcs, goblins, tieflings, and kobolds. The Menagerie Coast is a confederation of city-states focused on trade and cultural exchange. And the floating archipelago of free cities, known as Draconia, was once the homeland of the Dragonborn.
When will The Mighty Nein be released?
You can catch The Mighty Nein on Prime Video starting on Wednesday, 19 November 2025.
The spin-off of Vox Machina was officially announced in January 2023. By October 2024, Travis Willingham, co-producer of The Legend of Vox Machina, shared that work on The Mighty Nein was halfway completed (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.
Who are the characters of The Mighty Nein?
The new animated series introduces seven main characters:
- Nott The Brave, voiced by Sam Riegel, was once a halfling woman who transformed into a goblin due to a curse.
- Caleb Widogast, voiced by Liam O’Brien, is a human wizard haunted by his past as an assassin for the Dwendalian Empire.
- Fjord Stone, voiced by Travis Willingham, is a half-orc sailor who acquires mysterious magical abilities.
- Beauregard Lionett, voiced by Marisha Ray, is a human monk affiliated with the Order of the Cobalt Soul.
- Jester Lavorre, voiced by Laura Bailey, is a tiefling cleric devoted to an invisible deity called the Traveler.
- Mollymauk Tealeaf, voiced by Taliesin Jaffe, is a tiefling tarot reader working in a traveling circus.
- Yasha Nydoorin, voiced by Ashley Johnson, is a barbarian exiled from her home in Xhorhas for defying her clan’s traditions.
In addition, Matt Mercer lends his voice to Essek Thelyss, a dark elf and wizard from the Kryn Dynasty.
The series’ voice cast also includes:
- 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 series is set approximately 20 years after the events of Vox Machina. The official synopsis for the show reads:
The Mighty Nein follows a group of fugitives and outcasts, united by their secrets and scars. But when a powerful arcane artifact known as ‘The Beacon’ falls into dangerous hands, they must learn to cooperate to save the realm and prevent reality from unraveling.
According to Willingham, The Mighty Nein will showcase how the main characters first met, rather than starting as a cohesive group from the outset (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.
Showrunner Tasha Huo 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. We really try to treat the show like a live-action show, which is tonally different than Vox Machina, but still keeping within the same world.
Based on photos shared by Entertainment Weekly, season 1 will delve into the story of a charismatic elven wizard named Essek Thelyss. This purple-skinned mage with white hair, known as the Shadowhand, is revered for his expertise in dark magic and mysteries. Critical Role has promised that the TV series will explore aspects of Essek’s character that weren’t revealed in the original game.
Travis Willingham elaborated:
You’ll see the machinations both happening in the Empire and the Dynasty, all the things moving behind the scenes, and really who was Essek. How did he get to be in the place where he was, moving these large pieces and affecting a large portion of the world in The Mighty Nein?
The Amazon series will be filled with inside jokes and easter eggs that will delight dedicated Critical Role fans. Sam Riegel, a voice actor and co-executive producer, shared:
Not to spoil anything for the audience, but all of your favorite gags, all of your favorite inside jokes and weird things that happened during the Campaign 2 live-play, we love those things too, and we’re going to try to preserve as many of those as possible. I won’t say how and when that joke is made, but if you loved it in the campaign, I guarantee it will make an appearance in the animated series.
Is there a trailer for The Mighty Nein?
Not yet, but Amazon has released three teaser clips for the show.
During Comic-Con 2025 in San Diego, Amazon unveiled a hilarious sneak peek from the series:
Here is a clip from 2023 teasing the series’ characters:
Amazon also shared a sneak peek into the animation process: