- Critical Role announced a four-part miniseries called “Moonward” on Wednesday.
- “Moonward” follows “Midst,” a sci-fi space western audio drama that CR acquired in 2023.
- “Moonward” also features two CR heavyweights in its latest foray into the podcast business.
Critical Role has produced several big titles outside of its main long-running Dungeons & Dragons campaign, and now the company is looking to focus more on its podcast business.
Critical Role creative director Marisha Ray announced the miniseries during a livestream on Wednesday night. Titled “Moonward,” the four-part standalone series is set in the universe of Midst, an experimental audio drama that Critical Role acquired in 2023.
Midst, a sci-fi space western set on a desert planet, was originally helmed by three unknown narrators, but now three of them have revealed their anonymity: Matt Lowen, Sarah Weil and Zeng.
On Moonward, Ray and fellow CR main cast member Liam O'Brien are experimenting on set.
Ray said “Moonward” will be set immediately after the events of the third season of “Midst,” and will feature characters going on an “expedition to find the sunken remains of Midst's destroyed moon.”
“At the end, we all left the table feeling very attached to the stories we told,” O'Brien said during a stream Wednesday night.
Moonward has no dice and no rules; it features pure roleplay and acting, unlike the D&D main campaigns the two cast members are used to.
“This is completely different from anything we've done with Critical Role,” Ray said, likening the experience to a combination of a role-playing game and a live jam session.
This year has been a big one for Critical Role's expansion into the geek world. The third season of its Amazon-backed animated series “The Legend of Vox Machina” is set to release in the fall, and the company is also in the works with “Mighty Nein,” an animated series based on its second long-running “D&D” campaign. Plus, the company's expansion continues with two games: “Daggerheart” open beta, a game that could rival Hasbro's flagship “Magic: The Gathering” and “D&D,” and CR's gothic horror offering “Candela Obscura.”
The first full trailer for Moonward will be released on July 24th.
For now, fans of Critical Role can satiate their craving for the show with the highly anticipated start of the smash hit main campaign arc, “Downfall,” helmed by “Dimension 20's” Brennan Leigh Mulligan.
“Downfall” launches Thursday night and will stream on Twitch, YouTube and CR's in-house membership and streaming service, Beacon.
