The Legend of Vox Machina has been greenlit for a third season, drops a second season peek at NYCC

The Legend of Vox Machine, the animated adaptation of Critical Role’s first actual play adventure, treated New York Comic Con goers to a brief look of the upcoming second season while elsewhere announcing that it had already been renewed for a third.

Critical Role announced the news via its official Twitter account on October 6th but did not include a release date or any information beyond the promise of more episodes beyond the 24 already ordered across season one and two.

The Legend of Vox Machina is a retelling of Critical Role’s initial season, in which Marisha Ray, Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, Travis Willingham, Liam O'Brien, Sam Riegel and Taliesin Jaffe are led by dungeon master Matthew Mercer through a homebrewed Dungeons & Dragons 5E campaign that jumpstarted their now massive popularity and arguably helped the tabletop RPG reach its current pop culture saturation.

Alex Meehan found that the first season failed to live up to the experience of listening (or watching) the original crew but was overall a serviceable adaptation. Fans crowdsourced the initial spate of twelve episodes via a Kickstarter campaign, raising more than $11 million before Amazon studios adopted the cause and assigned Titmouse animation studios to produce it.

A second season was promised back in 2019, and reports say both it and the first season shared production schedules. Those attending Critical Role’s panel at the 2022 New York Comic Con caught a brief peek at one of those episodes, which picks up directly after the dramatic cliffhanger ending of season one. There are dragons, destruction and the quippy humour that characterised season one’s mixture of dark plots and camera-winking, anachronistic dialogue.

Season 2 will premiere in January 2023 on Amazon’s streaming platform. No crowdfunding was necessary this time, but watchers will still need a Prime subscription to tune in - original backers were dismayed and angry to learn they would need to pay the colossal corporation more money to gain access to a television show they previously donated to create. Critical Role’s response was to open early access screenings for a limited time, and anyone who missed those or wanted to rewatch were prompted to apply for a free trial of Amazon Prime.