If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.
Critical Role's Sam Riegel blames COVID for the lack of Darrington Brigade adventures, but hopes there will be more soon
OG Taryon Darrington Riegel explained why the likes of The Owlbear and Hazel Copperpot haven't been seen much on Critical Role's streams, but also clarified he'd like to remedy that

Popverse's top stories
- This week’s X-Men ’97 makes Cable cooler than even his creator expected
- The new Resident Evil is about a basic human question (with zombies), says Weapons director
- The real star of The Lord of the Rings: the Rings of Power isn't Sauron or the One Ring - it's Mount Doom
After his well-received introduction in The Legend of Vox Machina season 4, Taryon Darrington is once again the name on every Critical Role fan’s lips. We’ve talked at length about the possibility of Prime Video investing in a Taryon spinoff (both voice actor Wayne Brady and a devoted season 4 staff writer are fully in), but one question that’s not getting asked as much is: what happened to Taryon Darrington’s time at the TTRPG table that birthed him?
Well fear not, curious Critter, OG Roler Sam Riegel is here with answers.
As you may know if you’ve been a fan of the D&D-playing webseries for any amount of time, Riegel was not only the original actor behind Taryon, but he’s also been at the helm of the big-on-laughs, small-on-screentime Campaign 1 spinoff starring Taryon, The Darrington Brigade. As of this writing, there have only been two one-shot adventures starring the eclectic band of comedic heroes - the first of which aired in November of 2019; the second of which aired this past April. And as you might’ve guessed just by the date on that former session, the reason that there aren’t more episodes comes down to the big thing that happened as 2019 was wrapping up.
"We didn’t decide to kill the Darrington Brigade," Riegel said in a recent episode of Critical Role’s fan Q&A series Fireside Chat, "The pandemic decided to kill the Darrington Brigade."
Now, though, Riegel says the interest in doing more with the characters is back.
"We’re starting to nudge it back into existence," the Mighty Nein voice actor said, "We did this Darrington Brigade one-shot during the 24-hour Marathon [a charity event hosted by Riegel that featured the 2026 session mentioned above], which was super fun."
Riegel said he hopes, too, that Taryon’s inclusion in the Prime Video adaptation of Critical Role Campaign 1 would "usher in a renewed interest and excitement around [French accent] Le Brigade Darrington. I hope it does, anyway."
We hope it does too, Sam. We hope it does too.
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.
Follow Popverse for upcoming event coverage and news
Find out how we conduct our review by reading our review policy
Let Popverse be your tour guide through the wilderness of pop culture
Sign in and let us help you find your new favorite thing.















Comments
Want to join the discussion? Please activate your account first.
Visit Reedpop ID if you need to resend the confirmation email.