Posted in: Amazon Studios, Critical Role, Interview, TV | Tagged: Sam Riegel, The Mighty Nein

Interview: Critical Role's Sam Riegel Chats About The Mighty Nein

We had a chance to chat with Sam Riegel of Critical Role ahead of the premire of The Mighty Nein this week to discuss making the new series

Earlier this week, Critical Role and Amazon Prime released their latest animated series, The Mighty Nein, based on the second Dungeons & Dragons campaign of the liveplay show. Prior to the show's launch, we got a chance to chat with actor Sam Riegel about this show's development and changes from the original campsign, working with animation studio Titmouse, and more.

BC: Hey Sam! How have you all been doing with everything that's been going on this past year?

SR: We have been busy, haven't we! Between launching a new campaign on our channel, the success of Daggerheart, our live show at Radio City Music Hall, and of course, the debut of The Mighty Nein, it feels like we're always cooking on something. But through it all, there have been lots of chances to step back and marvel at all we've accomplished, and the excitement of our fans definitely keeps us going strong.

How did the talks to do Campaign 2 as a series come about? Was it an automatic thing with Amazon since Vox Machina was already rolling? Or did you need to convince them and Titmouse to do a second series on top of the one they were already doing?

Not automatic, no! We still had to pitch the series, like every other show on the platform. With all the excitement around The Legend of Vox Machina, it definitely made things easier. But yes, we developed a pitch for the series way back in 2021, which Prime Video loved, thank goodness. Since then, we've been working nonstop on the series – animation takes TIME.

You've previously talked about how C2 was all over the place due to several aspects, including Ashley's filming schedule, Travis and Laura having a baby, the pandemic, etc. At what point did you decide you needed to rewrite the origins and overall storyline for the series?

Early on, we realized that to fully appreciate these characters, the audience needed to know where they came from – and what they were running from. So we devote most of the first three episodes just setting up who these people are, and what trauma shapes them. That way, when they finally get together – and don't worry, they do! – it will be even more impactful to a new audience.

What were some of the hardest choices you had to make in terms of storytelling to make sure fans who saw it still recognize this story, while those who have never experienced it get all of the important beats?

The great thing about this series is that all audiences – original fans of the liveplay series as well as folks who have never heard of Critical Role – start on the same page. The first three episodes will be equally new to everyone. As with any adaptation, we had to cut and rearrange some of the story to suit a television format, and also to fit into a season of eight episodes. It's always hard making those calls. But we made sure that all of our favorite beats from the campaign made the cut.

You got a bevy of voice actors to come in and do cameos and take over significant roles that were mostly played by Matt. Who are some of the people you were most excited to have join the cast for The Mighty Nein?

Our supporting cast is so stacked on The Mighty Nein! I'm stoked about Lucy Liu as the Bright Queen, Tim McGraw as Vandran, Mark Strong as Trent Ikithon… and we are thrilled that Alan Cumming agreed to portray Gustav. Really, though, the whole cast is a dream come true.

The animation to this, while similar to Vox Machina, has a slightly different feel to it in some ways. Almost like a Legend of Korra influence on the way it's presented. Were there any efforts on your part working with Titmouse to make sure this captured a different vibe to set it apart from the first series?

We set out to make this series distinct, but not completely divergent from the style we established in The Legend of Vox Machina. Like cousins. The stories take place in the same world, obviously, so we didn't want to make them look completely different. That said, The Mighty Nein is a darker, grittier story. So we adjusted the art direction to capture that realness.

How was it for all of you to watch the final product and see how many times the Titmouse crew made sure there was a single ominous chair in the middle of several rooms?

Titmouse really rose to the moment and knocked it out of the park. The entire crew threw themselves into the lore, the story, the world – and even reminded us about stuff that we forgot happened in the campaign!

What are your thoughts going into the season premiere? Anything you hope the audience takes away from the show?

As with everything we do, we're just trying to spread our love of storytelling to a wider audience. These stories, fantasy stories, can mean so much to people – and I hope that adults (and maybe some older kids) can get inspired to create their own worlds, like we did.

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