The Legend of Vox Machina cast explains why Season 4 is their most emotional yet.
When Critical Role says they’re going to “f**k s**t up,” you can always expect some wild and extravagant chaos to go down. However, in Prime Video‘s The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4, the chaos that this merry band of misfits has to face is more terrifying than the dragons they’ve slain before.
In The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4, the team’s split up and have gone their separate ways. The two couples, Vax/Keyleth and Vex/Percy, live simpler lives, but Pike and Grog are on the road, still venturing. However, when unearthly forces awaken, Vox Machina must come together once again to stop a new threat: the Whispered One.
Given how Season 4 adapts Critical Role’s first campaign, as well as how the first few episodes played out, fans might be wondering how this dark story will conclude. I sat down with the cast of Critical Role to talk about Vox Machina’s parallel storylines, the team’s emotional confrontations, and who’s the underdog of Season 4.
Taliesin Jaffe and Liam O’Brien Discuss Vax/Keyleth and Vex/Percy Parallels
The first few episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4 saw the twins, Vex and Vax, and their respective lovers, Percy and Keyleth, in different places. They lived nice lives separately, but when the Whispered One’s forces came at their doors, the couples fought the dangers off. However, the way both duos approached these problems was thematically similar.
Talking about these narrative parallels, Jaffe looked back on how these relationships were synergetic. “I’ll say originally a lot of what happened between Laura and I was almost a bit of a reaction to Liam and Marisha to the Keyleth-Vax thing of like, that seems like a lot,” Jaffe began.
“I think we just want our own thing. They’re really like, ‘That was a big deal and we’re really just enjoying us.’ Secrets were inevitable on that level because you want to be your own person.”
“I also think it’s fun, when you have long-form stories, you don’t want to stay set into like one path or one habit,” O’Brien added. “A big part of the twins is how inseparable and attached they were in Simpatico. A great way to shake the snow globe up is to send them off into two directions and split for the first time and find out who they are without the others.”
“We get to see them miss each other, but figure out their life separate, and it was just a great way to change things up both in the original campaign and now.”
Laura Bailey Discusses Vex’halia’s Vulnerabilities in The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4
Given how Vex also has to deal with keeping all these secrets from her brother, she’s put into a tough position of doing what’s right. Bailey also spoke on the emotional conflict that Vex has to face with when those secrets reveal themselves in The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4.
“I think Vex, in previous seasons, you’ve seen her with a pretty strong wall around her because she doesn’t want to show that vulnerability and she doesn’t want to reveal anything like that,” Bailey described.
“The beautiful thing about this season is that you finally get to see her in a more intimate way, in a comfortable way, where she feels like she can let her guard down. Then, to have it thrown back in her face in the most devastating way is pretty painful, but so much fun to explore.”
Marisha Ray Discusses the Thematic Importance of Keyleth’s Aramenté and Feelings for Vax
In the first three episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4, fans got to witness Keyleth finally becoming the Voice of the Tempest. However, that journey was perilous as Keyleth faced her biggest challenge of all: overcoming her aramenté (a spiritual test for the Ashari, the elemental clans Keyleth unites.)
During our conversation, Ray went into detail about how Keyleth’s aramenté, as well as her emotions for Vax’s decisions, sets up important expectations, both for the character and the rest of Season 4’s darker narrative.
“There was a lot of push and pull there of Keyleth being like, ‘So you’re going to let somebody else dictate and tell you what to do’, and something that once again kind of mirrors even what Pike has been going through and her journey,” Ray began.
“You are seeing this duality happen amongst several characters, of Vax leaning in a little bit to the will of the Matron. There’s like an Ouroboros happening amongst a lot of the characters and their disposition to the gods.”
Additionally, Ray also went into technical detail about how Keyleth’s aramenté played out. “The way that the Kraken was interpreted, Sam and Travis came to me and they were like, ‘Hey, we want to do this thing where your voice as Keyleth is layered with the Kraken,” Ray recalled.
“There’ss several layers of voices there, but that higher octave note is Keyleth and that was supposed to be that interpretation of Keyleth’s inner fears and anxieties being very much physically represented and in front of her as this horrible monstrosity.”
Sam Riegel Talks About Scanlan’s Insecurities in The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4
Despite Scanlan moving on from the team in The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4, he does get an entire episode dedicated to himself. Although fans only know the title of Season 4 Episode 8, “The Bard’s Lament”, the episode ultimately looks back on Scanlan’s growth as a character and a father throughout the entire series.
Discussing how Season 4 Episode 8 is thematically important for Scanlan, Riegel went into detail about how this episode’s story ultimately sums up who Scanlan really is.
“I think that’s been Scanlan’s arc the entire series, realizing that a lot of his cockiness and bravado and jokester-ness comes from deep insecurity, and realizing that he’s never more secure than when he’s with his friends,” Riegel explained.
“Sometimes, confronting something like that is scary, to realize that you need people and you can’t do it on your own. I think that’s what we’re seeing Scanlan go through in this season, wrestling with the fact that he knows that these people are good for him, but he doesn’t want to admit it.”
Ashley Johnson Discusses Why Pike is The Legend of Vox Machina’s Underdog
For most of The Legend of Vox Machina, Pike’s been put in the position of helping wherever she’s needed. Although she’s blessed many with the power of the Everlight, her belief in one of Exandria’s almighty deities gets heavily tested throughout Season 4. As such, this has left Pike with a heavy doubt in her own heart, something which fans may pick up on.
Talking to Johnson about why Pike is the underdog of The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4, she looked back on the character’s core traits. “Playing a cleric and her being a priestess of the Everlight, that’s such a big part of her story is her journey with her faith in that she so many things she wants to do,” Johnson said.
“She also wants to play with her friends and go out and drink some ale and bust some heads. I think she has more of a struggle this year because she’s lost a lot of her a lot of her purpose. They’ve taken this downtime after after everything with the Chroma Conclave.”
“That brought all of her feelings that she’s already been having to a head of, ‘I don’t really know what my purpose is beyond helping people. And what do I do for myself?’,” Johnson added. “It’s sad, but also she needs to go through it to come out of the other side.”
Travis Willingham Discusses Grog’s “New” Side in The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4
For many fans, Grog is definitively the heart of Vox Machina because of how empathetic he is despite his towering form. However, in The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4 Episode 5, fans may get to see just a new, much more intelligent, side to Grog that hasn’t been seen before.
I talked with Willingham about bringing this new trait of Grog’s to light and how it works in tandem with the rest of the half-giant’s personality.
“I think the most challenging thing was reading dialogue that was that eloquent in Grog’s voice and having to say it so quickly,” Willingham described. “Normally I could just kind of bumble through my words, but you give me a bunch of five syllable words and all of a sudden stuff gets really tricky.”
“At the end of the day, you saw an absolute wrecking crew of an individual be gifted with an intelligence that he could not maintain for more than whatever the time of that that potion was. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure he would explode,” Willingham joked.
“If there is a if there is a hangover to be had for smarts, he definitely had it for like a week!”
Season 4 is now available on Prime Video.
Read more News on Nerdtropolis. Subscribe to our YouTube.
Discover more from Nerdtropolis - Movie News, Reviews, Interviews, and Trailers
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Chris Gallardo
Christopher Gallardo is a New York City-based freelance entertainment writer and critic. He is currently writing for Tell-Tale TV, Nerdtropolis, Popternative and Eulalie Magazine with previous contributions to The Hollywood Handle and CoveredGeekly. He has been featured other sites including Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Direct, Collider, IGN, and much more. He is also a massive fan of animated shows and movies, ranging from Princess Mononoke to Invincible and Arcane, as well as a big Greek mythology fan who loves Percy Jackson, God of War, and the Hades games. You can find him on X and Instagram (@chrisagwrites)!
