It’s often mind-boggling to remember that Critical Role started as a good old-fashioned Dungeons & Dragons game among friends. Creator Matthew Mercer and his gaggle of voice acting pals’ behemoth campaigns have spawned a multimedia fantasy empire, progressing from wildly popular weekly Twitch livestreams to novels, comics, a nonprofit, and now, multiple animated series on Amazon Prime.

Whereas the first Critical Role show, The Legend of Vox Machina, draws from the events of the team’s first campaign, their latest venture, The Mighty Nein, tackles their second. Set decades after the events of Vox Machina — which returns for a fourth season in 2026 — this series, premiering on Prime Video Nov. 19, succeeds in laying the groundwork for a darker, more sprawling fantasy epic whose familiar D&D

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