THE MIGHTY NEIN Series Will Flesh Out Essek (And His War Crimes), Shares Showrunner

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We’re thrilled to see Essek, the popular drow character from The Mighty Nein campaign, become a main character in the animated TV series! Yes, that includes all sides of him – the charming, the brooding, and even his complicated past. It means we’ll get to explore a more developed version of a character we already love. TopMob recently spoke with the showrunner, Tasha Huo, to get a sneak peek at what’s in store for Essek and the series. Here’s what she shared.

Adapting the Critical Role campaign The Mighty Nein into a TV series allows the creators to explore storylines and character arcs that weren’t possible within the original Dungeons & Dragons game. According to writer Tasha Huo, a key focus will be expanding on the story of Essek. When asked which part of the campaign she was most eager to showcase in the series, Huo immediately highlighted Essek’s narrative.

As a movie lover, I totally get wanting to explore a story thread that was hinted at but never fully shown! It was like finding out there was a whole subplot in a film that we didn’t get to see because the characters didn’t go that way. It’s awesome that they decided to revisit that ‘Essek’ storyline and finally show us what it was all about – it felt like a director’s cut!

When running a tabletop game, the story follows the players’ choices. However, a TV show has much more freedom – the camera can move anywhere, jump between timelines, and even focus on characters who were originally minor roles. The upcoming The Mighty Nein TV series will showcase this by turning Matt Mercer’s character, Essek, from a non-player character into a main character, exploring all the benefits and challenges that come with that change.

Huo talked about developing Essek’s character, explaining that it involved deeply considering his motivations, feelings, and choices. He especially enjoyed Essek’s eventual relationship with Caleb, but wanted to explore the origins of that connection. He felt it was important to show Essek making poor decisions, as the character initially lacked any experience with love and had a troubled past. Huo recalled Matt Mercer pointing out that Essek had essentially committed war crimes, which made him realize they hadn’t seen enough of Essek’s darker side.

Essek fans, get ready – seeing Essek’s darker side on screen in The Mighty Nein series will be intense! While we’ve heard about his past misdeeds, actually watching them unfold will be a lot to take in. It seems getting more Essek means confronting all the morally questionable things his character does. However, we’re still rooting for him – we support his right to make mistakes, and we’re excited to see him grow, find redemption, and even find love.

We told Huo we’re excited about the character Essek, and she joked that we’ll be getting plenty of him in The Mighty Nein. We’re really looking forward to seeing more of Essek, and we’re thrilled that Matt Mercer will be voicing him in The Mighty Nein TV series.

As a huge fan of Critical Role, I’m so excited to share that Prime Video is releasing their new animated series, The Mighty Nein, on November 19, 2025! They’re launching with the first three episodes, which is awesome. And if you can’t wait that long – and honestly, who can? – you can actually start watching the entire Mighty Nein campaign right now! It’s a fantastic story, and I highly recommend jumping in.

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2025-11-14 01:03