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Much of the action for Critical Role's tabletop campaigns happens in the theater of the mind - as is the case with any great D&D actual play. As longtime fans will know, though, there are moments of high-fantasy, high-rolling action in the episodes themselves - that is, in the much-beloved openers for each campaign. But across 4 campaigns, there's been no clear direction for each opener to take, and so you can see how any fan would be curious as to how the cast decides on one.

Luckily, OG Roler Laura Bailey is happy to explain why.

That explanation came up at Anime Frontier 2025, where Bailey was appearing with fellow CR cast members Ashley Johnson, Travis Willingham, Liam O'Brien, Sam Riegel, and Taliesin Jaffe. At one point in their panel, the cast opened up to audience questions, and a cosplayer dressed as Bailey's own Mighty Nein character Jester Lavorre wanted to know: how does Critical Role decide on its openers?

"Sometimes," answered Bailey, "It has to do with what we have time for. When we did our opening credits for Campaign 2, we knew we wanted eventually to have an animated opening. But we didn't know our characters, who they were going to be, when we had to film the opening. That's why we went with that retro, around-the-table vibe that lasted until we got the animated opening done.

"I miss cosplaying as our characters," she continued, referring to the opening of Campaign 1, "I really liked doing that. That was super fun."

"Maybe we should do that for campaign 4..." responded Riegel, with a tone that (maybe it's just me) sounded a teensy bit knowing. Were you teasing something to come, Sam? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

With two animated series on Prime Video, Campaign 4 in full swing, and so much more Exandrian lore to come, Critical Role is showing no signs of slowing down. That's why the adventuring party at Popverse are here to bring you everything we can from those nerdy-ass voice actors & Bo., including:

• Critical Role release schedule
• Critical Role's Campaign 4 characters ranked
• How to watch Critical Role in order
• Ways for you to relive the Critical Role panel from ECCC '26
• Taliesin Jaffe on playing Mollymauk Tealeaf for Campaign 2 vs. playing him for Prime Video
• Matt Mercer's homebrew warrior class (created originally for Vin Diesel)

...and much, much more. Roll initiative, player. Magic awaits.