THE MIGHTY NEIN Delivers CRITICAL ROLE’s Darkest Fantasy Yet (Review)

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If you’re a fan of dark fantasy, make time to watch The Mighty Nein on Wednesday, November 19th – you won’t regret it! This new animated series from Critical Role and Prime Video is excellent, even if you’re new to the Critical Role community. Here’s our review to give you a preview of Prime Video’s latest Critical Role offering, The Mighty Nein.

The animated series based on Critical Role’s second campaign is fantastic – almost flawless, and incredibly enjoyable. It’s a show that will make you feel everything from warmth and sadness to genuine excitement, largely thanks to the amazing animation by Titmouse and Neal Acree’s unique score, which blends fantasy with an electronic, ‘Tron’-like feel.

Taking place around 20 years after the first animated series, The Legend of Vox Machina, The Mighty Nein offers a more complex and intense story. Unlike Vox Machina, which felt like a classic fantasy adventure with heroes uniting for a quest, The Mighty Nein portrays a group of flawed and troubled individuals struggling to survive as they’re pulled along by larger historical forces.

A stolen holy object, the Luxon Beacon, is about to ignite a war between two major empires, and it’s up to a mismatched team of unlikely heroes – or, well, not-so-heroic characters – to prevent it. That’s the core of Prime Video’s The Mighty Nein, and what makes the show so compelling. Plus, the animation is consistently stunning, with each episode featuring at least one incredible sequence.

Like any great Dungeons & Dragons adventure, this group of heroes all carry significant emotional baggage and hidden vulnerabilities. There’s Caleb Widogast, a wizard who’s constantly covered in grime and struggling with depression; Nott the Brave, a goblin with a drinking problem and a tendency to steal; Beauregard Lionett, a warrior monk who’s quick to anger but surprisingly insightful; Jester Lavorre, a playful evangelist for a missing god; Fjord Stone, a sailor haunted by a past tragedy; and Mollymauk Tealeaf, a charismatic circus performer who’s hiding a mysterious past.

Viewers familiar with the original story might find this adaptation similar to the film Rashomon, with expanded backstories and a rearranged timeline. Importantly, it avoids feeling like a lengthy advertisement for D&D Beyond. While the TV series follows the general arc of The Mighty Nein campaign from Critical Role, it’s a unique experience, and the show’s flexible approach to adapting the source material is very effective.

The show The Mighty Nein blends surprisingly well a wild mix of elements – from comical drunks and shadowy killers to distant deities, mature themes, and world-altering objects. It should feel jarring to jump between humor and intense drama. But instead, The Mighty Nein doesn’t just meet expectations, it completely shatters them with its incredible execution.

Each episode of this series is almost twice as long as those of The Legend of Vox Machina, giving the characters more depth and development. This allows the show to revisit and expand upon beloved stories and character backgrounds, creating a more gripping, fast-paced, and intricate narrative. Showrunner Tasha Huo and the team can now fully explore key origin stories – moments that originally happened behind the scenes in the original Critical Role show or were detailed in the Critical Role comics.

The longer episodes of The Mighty Nein don’t overstay their welcome. Although the Vox Machina characters are enjoyable, their story sometimes felt immature and distracted from the plot. The Mighty Nein still has plenty of crude humor, but it feels more natural and even important to the story, which is surprising to say.

Consider Jester Lavorre, a cheerful, blue-skinned tiefling cleric who acts much younger than she is. She’s always causing a bit of playful trouble, typically through silly graffiti and harmless pranks. Her god, The Traveler, feels more like an imaginary companion than a traditional deity.

Jester’s unusual habit of drawing playful, suggestive pictures – let’s just say they resemble male anatomy, but calling them that feels wrong – isn’t just a joke. It’s a way for her to protect herself from feeling incredibly lonely and isolated, stemming from a very sheltered upbringing within her mother’s brothel. Considering her idea of romance is based on scandalous novels like Tusk Love, the habit is funny in The Mighty Nein, but also hints at a deeper sadness.

When it comes to emotional storylines, Caleb Widogast’s past really takes center stage in the first season of The Mighty Nein. His difficult history resurfaces, impacting both his friends and the wider world, all due to the schemes of the powerful and manipulative archmage Trent Ikithon, brilliantly voiced by Mark Strong. This builds to a particularly shocking and intense scene by episode five – one of the most gripping I’ve witnessed in animation.

Characters like Essek Thelyss (played by Matthew Mercer) and Mollymauk have their backstories reworked and presented in a way that feels more powerful. Yasha Nydoorin (Ashley Johnson), a strong barbarian on a mysterious journey, appears the least so far. Viewers new to the original story might not fully understand her yet, but Ashley Johnson and Travis Willingham have hinted to Entertainment Weekly that we’ll see more of her character developed throughout the series.

The animated series The Mighty Nein also offers plenty of fun hidden references for dedicated Critical Role viewers. From recurring jokes like Beau’s dislike of sleeves to animated appearances by voice actors Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey, there’s a lot for longtime fans to enjoy. According to showrunner Tasha Huo in an interview with TopMob, the show continues the tradition from The Legend of Vox Machina by hiding characters who resemble Matt Mercer in the background, so be sure to watch closely!

My main issue with The Mighty Nein is simply that it’s too short – only eight episodes. The story really starts to gain momentum at the end of the eighth episode, which is both exciting and frustrating. It definitely leaves you wanting more, but unfortunately, we’ll likely have to wait a long time – probably until 2027 – for another season.

At the very least, this sparked my desire to rewatch Campaign Two of Critical Role, and that’s high praise for any adaptation. Even better, for the next two months, viewers can find themselves asking the same question Matt Mercer famously poses: Is it Wednesday yet?

You can start watching The Mighty Nein on Prime Video November 19th. Three episodes will be available right away, with new episodes released every Wednesday.

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2025-11-18 01:05