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When it comes turning 500+ hours of actual play into an animated TV show, you have to respect what the Critical Role team for Prime Video's The Mighty Nine. A lot of that, as I understand it, came down to restructuring and resizing events of the actual play series' Campaign 2, upon which Mighty Nein is based, into different structures to fit the medium. One of those restructurings was the relationship between characters Caleb Widogast and Nott the Brave - a friendship that took a while to form in the campaign, but one that bascially opens its animated adaptation.

And now, we know the reason for that restructuring thanks to Caleb Widogast himself, OG Critical Roel cast member Liam O'Brien.

The story comes from a Paste Magazine interview that the Critical Role founders did ahead of The Mighty Nein's debut. During it, O'Brien was asked about why the series frontloaded the Nott/Caleb relationship. Why, he was asked by his interviewer, was this so important for the show? And according to O'Brien, it all comes down to pacing.

"It’s really hard to try to shove an entire backstory from the jump into someone’s face," said O'Brien, "So we had to design it to dribble out bit by bit by bit. All of these characters’ stories are a lot to digest, so it was carefully crafted, the 'How?' and 'How fast?'"

On the other hand, though, establishing that firm detail of trust between Caleb and Nott in the beginning meant that the writers were free to hold back on other parts of their backstories.

"For Caleb and Nott specifically," O'Brien concluded, "We want the audience to know as little about them as they know about each other, so that we’re watching them circle each other and understand each other as they learn with time as the audience does. "

As a fan of well-paced TV and as someone impressed by the act of taking the hundreds of hours of Campaign 2 and boiling them down to an animated streaming series, this is a move I really appreciate. Now if only I could change my own pacing - season 2 feels awfully far away.

The Mighty Nein is streaming on Prime Video now. 

From the lands of Exandria to your very own smartscreens, Popverse has everything you need to know about the TTRPG phenomenon that is Critical Role. Here you'll find:

• Popverse's Critical Role watch order
• An interview with GM Brennan Lee Mulligan
• The cast's appearance at C2E2 '25

...and more. Roll initiative, player. Adventure awaits.