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Critical Role has discussed doing Marvel-style 'What If...?' stories for their campaigns, says Travis Willingham

What if Yasha never met The Mighty Nein? What if Taryon Darrington wasn't a fan of Vox Machina? What if Essek wasn't as hot? If Critical Role's MCU-esque idea gets off the ground, maybe we'll get answers...

Critical Role's Travis Willingham knows that you're curious about alternate timelines in Exandria. Stories in which a character makes choices leading to a different outcome than what happened in, say, The Legend of Vox Machina or The Mighty Nein. And what's more, the Critical Role cast themselves are curious about those branching realities - so much so, in fact, that they've been bouncing around the idea of following in the footsteps of one of the biggest 'alternate timeline' storytellers out there.

That is, Marvel's What If...? TV series.

The topic came up during the most recent episode of Fireside Chat, Critical Role's regular fan Q&A talkback series that streams exclusively on their Beacon.tv platform. Writing in under the name 'Izak_Davinos,' one fan in this particular episode asked if there was "ever a possibility of doing Critical Role 'What If' content, like the Marvel What If...?" series.

"That’s a cool idea," said Laura Bailey, Willingham's cohost for the episode and real-life partner. And while Willingham agreed, he wanted to go a step further and explain that that's not even the first time he's heard it.

"We have talked about that very thing," said the voice actor, "In a variety of mediums, so there's always a possibility. But Izak, great idea. Great minds think alike."

I don't know about you, but that 'variety of mediums' comment has my nerd-senses a'tingling. Remember, as successful as it is in the medium of animation, Critical Role has a host of comics and novels bearing its name. In fact, one of those novels is The Nine Eyes of Lucien by author Madeleine Roux. And funnily enough, Roux just happens to be the author of Marvel's official What If...? novels...

Now look, I'm not saying that Willingham hinted at having Roux work on a similar task for the tales of Exandria. But I also wouldn't be surprised if that name got thrown around in those discussions he mentioned.

The Legend of Vox Machina is streaming on Prime Video now. Marvel's What If...? is on Disney+.


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:

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

Grant DeArmitt

Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.

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