Critical Role's blockbuster animated series The Legend of Vox Machina announces Season 4—which means the return of D&D's biggest bad to streaming TV

The adventurers of Vox Machina line up heroically, posed in front of a bright, glowing background.

(Image credit: Amazon Prime / Critical Role)

I've been having a nostalgic blast with The Legend of Vox Machina, an animated series based on the D&D campaign of a little livestream-turned TTRPG empire called Critical Role, a show so popular it secured millions in funding within an hour of the Kickstarter for the show going live.

It's enjoyed a handful of twists from the source material, and while I'm mostly sold on all of them, there are a few moments I'm lamenting didn't get their moment in the sun. I won't get into everything now for fear of spoilers—besides, there's always room to work them back into the story, now that the company's announced it's just been greenlit for a fourth season.

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"We have some amazing news to share," says Sam Riegel, player (and voice) of sensual maestro and bard Scanlan Shorthalt. "We've been picked up for a season four!"

I'm real excited—but also terrified in equal measure. Given the teaser at the end of Season 3 (spoilers from the original livestream, including who the big bad of Season 4's inevitably gonna be) it looks like we're going right into Vecna territory—which means one of D&D's biggest bads, so pervasive he made his way into Stranger Things (and Dead by Daylight, the lich's been busy), will be returning to the silver screen for a second time.

While Exandria is Matt Mercer's own homebrew setting, his take on Vecna's pretty recognisable to anyone familiar with D&D canon—big lich, scary powers, trying to ascend to godhood, lotta zombies. You know the score.

I won't get any further into the details, but for the uninitiated viewer, you sure are in for a ride. While Vox Machina's battle against the Chroma Conclave saw a few heart-wrenching changes, this next arc's got a hundred more knives to twist should the showrunners so choose.

"Show Amazon that you love us and we'll keep making more of these," says Marisha Ray, voice of the tempest (and, coincidentally, the druid Keyleth). Illustrious DM Matthew Mercer also chimed in on X with a victorious "SEASON 4, BABY!" a reaction I would probably have if my D&D campaign pulled in four whole seasons of animated television.

Season 4 doesn't have a release date just yet—but the wait might be a little longer than seasons 3 and 2, both of which were renewed way earlier in the production than this one. Being patient? I can certainly try.

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Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.