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Major spoilers for Critical Role Campaign 4 follow.

Critical Role's Matt Mercer is pretty darn used to players throwing a wrench in his plans. As the primary GM for the it TTRPG actual play series, Mercer says he was "forged in the fires" of chaos gremlins like Sam Riegel and Laura Bailey. These days, Mercer's on the other side of the table - but that doesn't mean he's not still rolling with the punches. In fact, Mercer had a long-standing Campaign 4 idea that was blown to smithereens not by another PC at all... but by GM Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Before we get into that though, let me warn you: Major spoilers are on their way (in case you missed the other warnings).

Still here? Alright, great; Mercer recently spoke about having his plans dashed by Mulligan in the July edition of Fireside Chat, the Critical Role Fan Q&A that streams on Beacon. The subject at hand came up when one eager Critter wrote in to ask The Legend of Vox Machina star if there was anything Mulligan has done in the ongoing campaign thus far that caught him off guard.

"I mean," answered Mercer, "killing my dad that caught me off guard."

Hell of an answer, Mark. 

In case you don't know, Mercer's Campaign 4 character Sir Julien Davinos had a tricky relationship with his father, General Raimond Davinos, as the campaign was beginning. However, any hope of resolution between the two was brutally scrubbed from the story in C4 episode 3, when the dark sorcerer Primus Tachonis tore part of his skeleton out of his body, killing him instantly.

"In the very early stages of Julien," The Mighty Nein voice actor continued, "I was so looking forward to this eventual scene down the road where, after all this journey and all this self-awareness, either Julien goes extremely dark or maybe goes on a path of redemption, but then comes back and confronts his father about their history and their dynamic. That becomes a very heartfelt reunion, or a full, drag-out, blow-up. It's going to be such a... what happened to his skull? Okay. Nevermind then."

But don't take Mercer's surprise as a complaint.

"I love watching [Mulligan] work," said the voice actor, "I love when he makes the choices that I would; I'm like, 'Oh yeah, I would totally do that.' Then there are choices that I totally wouldn't have done. I love it; it's great. It's the wonderful joy of playing with another GM at the top of their game like that."

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.