Critical Role Confirms Animated Series Delayed Due to COVID-19

Critical Role's upcoming animated series will not debut in Fall 2020 as originally anticipated, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In an update provided to those who backed its Kickstarter, Critical Role confirmed that The Legend of Vox Machina would not air in Fall 2020, largely due to issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. In the update, Critical Role noted that the animation team and other aspects of its business transitioned to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and that adapting to that environment resulted in some delays. Additionally, the desire to provide proper localization and accessibility for a global audience has also led to some delays. While further details weren't provided, many animation projects have experienced delays due to issues with recording and directing voice acting talent remotely. No updated release date was provided, but the Critical Role team promised information as soon as they had it.

The Legend of Vox Machina is a planned animated series starring the characters of Critical Role's first campaign, which aired from 2015 to 2018 on Geek & Sundry's Twitch and YouTube channels. The cast of Critical Role raised over $12 million in a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of multiple episodes of the series, and Amazon Prime announced that they had picked up the show for the streaming service and already renewed the show for a second season. Backers of the Kickstarter campaign will still have access to the episodes initially funded by the campaign, even if they don't have a streaming service.

On a more positive note, Critical Role announced in a separate newsletter that they were actively developing plans for bringing its main show, which features the cast playing Dungeons & Dragons, back online in a "safe and responsible manner" in accordance to local guidelines for production and film projects. No exact timeline was announced, but it appears that Critical Role will return to the air with new episodes in some fashion in the not so distant future.