The Legend of Vox Machina is an animated series with three finished seasons available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, with a fourth on the way. The show is based on a series of Dungeons & Dragons sessions put on by the members of Critical Role, a group of voice actors who have spun their hang-out sessions into a media empire.
Because seasons 1, 2, and 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina each covered roughly 30 live Critical Role gameplay sessions, I expect season 4 to take us through episodes 73-100 or so. The Vox Machina campaign runs for 121 episodes in total. That means the creators and voice actors of Critical Role may be planning a fifth season to round out the story, or they could pack all the remaining episodes in season 4. We know they're working on a new animated adaptation of The Mighty Nein, the campaign they played after Vox Machina was finished. Perhaps they'd like to pivot to working more on that.
Thus far, we’ve seen entire gameplay sessions skipped over in the animated series, such as long shopping sessions and the characters playing spin the bottle. With that kind of lower-stakes material gone, there could be room to use the fourth season to ramp up to an epic confrontation with Vecna, one of the biggest bads in the series.
Some fans are calling for Mark Hamill to do the voice of Vecna, a popular D&D monster. Known as ‘The Whispered One,' Vecna's existence was hinted at in the season 3 finale.
What to expect in The Legend of Vox Machina season 4, beat by beat
Besides Vecna, I’m curious as to how they’ll handle events like lead characters Pike (Ashley Johnson) and Scanlan (Sam Riegel) getting married, or if that's something they'll change. The cast members have said in interviews that many changes were made to make the animated series a better, more visual appealing version of the original story and to surprise fans who watched the live play sessions. For example: in the live play, Raishan was unable to take over the dragon Thordak’s body. In the animated version, she completed the ritual and became an undead dragon. I agree that is much more exciting on screen. I expect the series to continue with big action and intrigue. I’m also very interested in Pike’s family curse. There's a chance for big relationship drama here so I figure they’ll run with it.
There will be more character deaths. I expect a beautiful and emotional passing for Vax (Liam O'Brien), because in the live play episode Critical Role troupe members Liam O'Brien and Sam Riegel wept. Scanlan planned to bring Vax back but his spell was countered, making it impossible. I just can’t see that being cut.
Keyleth (Marisha Ray) is a character who has grown beyond what she was in the live game play. She was initially considered weak by fans because of her indecisiveness and lack of confidence. In the animated series, she still has those qualities, but she's also shown a lot more steel. For season 4, she should complete her Aramenté and becomes a shape changer. I hope they come up with some great animation for that.
Although my favorite character is Vax, Percy is a character many people enjoy. Taliesin Jaffe is a great role player so I look forward to more about Percy. Will he make more of his powderboxes (guns)?
I love that in season 3, cast member Marisha Ray wrote episode 7. It’s good to see cast members step in to give their own spins on the storyline. I’m curious to know if any of the others will get a chance to do some writing in season 4, although the thought of Sam Riegel writing one sounds weird. Have you seen some of his convention costumes? He is a colorful person and plays such outrageous characters. His sponsorship skits in the live play shows gets silly and fun. We could count on him to embellish a little…okay, a lot!
Overall, the series so far is fun and action-packed. And of course the one-liners can’t be missed. The official release date for season 4 has not yet been set, but fan projections have it coming to Amazon Prime Video in the fall of 2025 to the spring of 2026, based on the length of time between previous seasons. The sooner the better, I say, but it will still be a long wait!
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