Animation Magazine — October 2, 2025
‘The Mighty Nein’ Creators Map Out the Next Animated Exandria Campaign

***This article was written for the November 2025 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 353)***

What began in 2015 as a Dungeons & Dragons game among an informal group of self-described nerdy voice actors has since grown into a multiplatform storytelling phenomenon. Streaming its weekly adventures on Twitch and YouTube, Critical Role built a devoted global following that soon expanded into comics, campaign guides and more. Its first campaign inspired the animated series The Legend of Vox Machina, which leapt from a record-smashing Kickstarter into a Prime Video hit in 2022. Building on that success, Critical Role is now launching an animated adaptation of their second campaign, The Mighty Nein.

Set in Exandria, the fantasy world created by game master Matthew Mercer (Baldur’s Gate 3) in 2012, The Mighty Nein follows a group of fugitives and outcasts who must band together to stop reality itself from unraveling when a powerful arcane relic known as “The Beacon” falls into dangerous hands. Darker, more cinematic and more morally complex than its predecessor, the 2D-animated hourlong series premieres November 19 on Prime Video and was produced in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios and Titmouse. (Read full story…)