San Diego Comic-Con welcomed back critters to the Critical Role Fireside Chat and Cast QnA panel in Ballroom 20!
To kick off, the room was filled with fans anticipating the return of their favorite heroes. It absolutely exploded when moderator Krystina Arielle introduced Ashley Johnson (The Last of Us), Marisha Ray (Fallout 76), Taliesin Jaffe (World of Warcraft), Matthew Mercer (Bauldur’s Gate 3), Laura Bailey(The Last of Us: Part II), Travis Willingham (Marvel’s Avengers), and Liam O’Brien (Marvel’s Avengers).
As the cast made their way to their seats Sam Riegel’s chair remained empty. The cast was quick to let fans know that Riegel was busy and that his absence had nothing to do with the video released on July 8th about his health.
“So yesterday we had the Prime Video adult animation panel and we got to show a really great clip of The Mighty Nein animated series, which comes out October 30th,” said Willingham who addressed the eager fans. “Are you guys excited?”
He was met with fans’ loud approval. Shortly after, they played the clip for everyone in Ballroom 20, which depicted Laura Bailey’s character, the blue tiefling Jester, running from some guards before slamming into Willingham’s character, the half-orc Fjord. The clip quickly ends after Jester falls in love at first sight and the guards begin to attack them.
This transitions to a new shot of Thordak the Cinder King, the ancient Red Dragon antagonist from Season 2 of The Legend of Vox Machina, now leading into Season 3 for what fans suspect will be an epic finale.
After that, they began to answer questions from their Discord, like what class they would want to be if they were taken from this world to Exandria (the world Critical Role takes place in), what Marisha Ray would have done with a past choice from a session months ago, what was a full circle moment for Bailey in their game sessions, or even what character from a Shakespeare play Liam O’Brien thinks loosely relates to his character Orym.
Eventually, the panel opened up to a Q&A with attendees where many got up to share. One attendee stood out as he looked like the spitting image of a barbarian, looming over 6 feet and looking like a mass of muscles. The cast was quick to draw the comparison between him and Grog the barbarian, even having him say, “I would like to rage!” in his deep voice. Ballroom 20 erupted into cheers, with the biggest smile spreading from the attendee’s face.
Overall, the Fireside Chat was a great way for the titular cast to connect with their fan base and let them know about the special events they have coming up. The anticipation for their new animated series was palpable, and seeing how many fans filled the room, whether cosplaying or not, it was clear there is much more to look forward to in the future of Critical Role.
