The Legend Of Vox Machina Clip: Critical Role's Animated Series Will Premiere Earlier Than Expected

Great news, Critters — the long wait for "The Legend of Vox Machina" has nearly reached its end. The animated fantasy series (based on Critical Role's first Dungeons & Dragons campaign) was once expected to grace our screens in late 2020, but pandemic delays put production a year behind schedule. Now Prime Video has announced plans to debut the series a week earlier than expected, on January 28, 2022. For fans of the web series, this means a chance to finally see the beloved characters in action, a crew of unlikely heroes banding together in all their chaotic glory. As for newcomers, there's still plenty of room to get wrapped up in this fantastical adventure. Here's the series' synopsis:

​​Based on the beloved characters and adventures of Critical Role's first live streamed tabletop role-playing game (RPG) campaign, The Legend of Vox Machina is an animated fantasy-adventure series for adults that follows Vox Machina, a band of misfits with a fondness for boozing and brawling. In a desperate attempt to pay off their mounting bar tab, these unlikely heroes end up on a quest to save the realm of Exandria from dark magical forces. From a sinister necromancer to a powerful curse, the group confronts a variety of obstacles that not only test their skills, but also the strength of their bond.

In case the promise of brawling misfits isn't enough to win your attention, Prime Video dropped this new release date alongside the first clip from "The Legend of Vox Machina."

A new clip from a much-anticipated fantasy series, you say? Surely there will be dragons involved? Or a grand magical threat of world-ending proportions? At the very least, an action packed battle to the death?! None of these are impossible, really — plenty of battles await viewers in future episodes of the series — but the first clip from "The Legend of Vox Machina" forgoes the eventual epic stakes for exactly the kind of goofy team moment that helped build the enormous fanbase.

The ragtag group of adventurers are brought to their heels when they encounter an obstacle so complex that it stops their journey in its tracks: a locked door. Who needs a villain or crucial storybeat when something as simple as a lock can bring out this personality-filled crew? We first meet gnome bard Scanlan Shorthalt (Sam Riegel), who begins by singing one of his famously improvised songs. The innuendo-filled little ditty fails to magically charm the door open but will at least make a wonderful addition to the series soundtrack. Keyleth (Marisha Ray), a half-elven druid, also takes a magical approach but it's much less about wit and more about ... fire. When this too fails, gnome cleric Pike Trickfoot (Ashley Johnson) tried to suss out the magical nature behind the door only to find that it isn't arcane in nature — or as half-elven ranger Vex'ahlia (Laura Bailey) puts it, "It's just a damn door!"

Half-elf rogue Vax'ildan (Liam O'Brien) is the only one able to rise to the locked door challenge — by which I mean, the only one sensible enough to just pick the lock. Naturally, with this dramatic nonsense going down, goliath barbarian Grog Strongjaw (Travis Willingham) is comfortably off in his own little world, chowing down on a delicious sandwich. The locked door makes the perfect obstacle to introduce our crew of heroes, bringing out their personalities, showing off their special skills and hinting at how well their future problem-solving attempts will go. Critical Role fans will also note a few missing voices, including Taliesin Jaffe, who voices party member and gunslinger Percy de Rolo; and the world creator/Dungeon Master, Matthew Mercer, set to voice Sylas Briarwood, among others,

"The Legend of Vox Machina" unites the many creatives behind Critical Role with writer Jennifer Muro ("Star Wars: Forces of Destiny") and Emmy-winning artist, animator and designer Phil Bourassa ("Young Justice").

The series arrives exclusively to Prime Video on January 28, 2022.