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When Critical Role made the jump into Campaign 2, the whole cast got the chance to make new characters and explore new themes. After all, a lot had changed in the years since they started being "nerdy-ass voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons." When Sam Riegel created Nott the Brave for The Mighty Nein, he had a very specific inspiration in mind: his own experience as a parent.

Nott the Brave, the heavy-drinking goblin rogue that Sam Riegel played in Critical Role’s second on-screen campaign and in The Mighty Nein animated series, is introduced as an unstable influence on the rest of the party, but her relationship with Liam O’Brien’s Caleb is distinctly maternal. The reason for that is that Riegel was in the thick of parenthood when he thought up the character.

“When I had originally created Nott so many years ago,” Sam Riegel explained in an interview. “I wanted to explore all kinds of things about identity and being comfortable in your own skin. But I was also really curious about how parents function in a fantasy-type story. And when The Mighty Nein first launched as a live play campaign, my kids were like four and six, so I was in the parenting zone full steam. It’s interesting to figure out what a parent would be like in a world where there’s danger and magic and betrayal around every corner.”

“And Nott may or may not be a parent. But she certainly has those instincts. It’s really cool that we get to tease what that means for her and why she feels that way about other characters and how it relates to who she is and who she wants to become. She isn’t just a weirdo drunk. There’s stuff going on behind those eyes.”

The Mighty Nein, along with the spectacularly maternal Nott the Brave, will return for Season 2. 

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.