‘Legend of Vox Machina’ EPs Riegel & Willingham Share the Secrets and techniques of Season 2

***This text initially appeared within the March ’23 concern of Animation Journal (No. 328)***

This month, followers of Amazon’s intelligent and addictive fantasy sequence The Legend of Vox Machina have been handled to a second 12-episode season of the present. Initially based mostly on Essential Position’s profitable livestream sequence, the brand new season kicks into the next gear with a number of places, a formidable quest, explorations of the facet characters and a few very horrifying dragons.

We have been thrilled when two of the present’s sensible exec producers and stars Sam Riegel (who voices Scanlan Shorthalt) and Travis Willingham (Grog Strongjaw) have been sort sufficient to reply a number of of our questions on their present’s wonderful second season:

Animation Journal: Congrats on the terrific viewers response to your second season, guys! You’ve been just about working nonstop, proper?

Travis Willingham: Sure, we rolled proper from season one into two, had good momentum and nice writers.

It was very nice to be arrange with two seasons upfront as a result of we knew that we might do a number of establishing for the characters on this planet within the first season, after which we knew might use Season 2 to introduce the dragons from the Chroma Conclave and in addition spend a while with the opposite characters and inform their particular person tales. We have been capable of flesh out what the group is like and get a greater really feel for what Exandria is like as a complete.

Sam Riegel: As you realize, the present was conceived by us the forged doing this role-playing sport for a few years across the desk. That’s principally improvised clearly and the world’s created by our sport grasp Matt Mercer, however the present itself is closely scripted. Each member of the forged will get to the touch the scripts to be sure that they sound just like the characters that they created. Once we’re recording the stuff within the room with one another or aside (as a result of pandemic), we enable ourselves a certain quantity of freedom to improvise and enhance on dialog or to provide you with new jokes within the second. I’d say it’s nonetheless 90% scripted.

You’ve some enjoyable tales about your digital writers’ room through the pandemic!

Sam: Most of our writers/performers are based mostly in L.A., however it was all performed just about through Zoom. It really labored out very well. This was the early days of the pandemic, and so we have been making an attempt various things to boost the Zoom room. I used to be really capable of Zoom in a monkey, as a result of again then, you possibly can simply name zoos and ask them to allow us to share a digital camera with one in every of their monkeys! They really allow us to do it, and we have been capable of brighten our room with a primate!

It was nice to study extra about each your characters throughout this new season.

Travis: It was nice for me, as a result of I believe everybody loves Grog as a result of he’s like this wonderful mixture of The Hulk and Joey from Mates. He has a coronary heart of gold and it was good to see the place he got here from, what shapes him, and who actually is aware of learn how to pull at his heartstrings. I believe he learns a really helpful lesson this season and understands the place he suits into the group. It was enjoyable to see his again story and all these tales that we’ve had in our heads for therefore a few years put into tangible media. It was like a bit a bit dream realized for me.

Sam: The animators at Titmouse, which produce our present’s implausible animation, love drawing Grog as a result of he will get to be concerned in some wonderful combat scenes. In Season 2, he bought some epic combat scenes they usually bought to attract some actually brutal and bloody, bone-crunching fight which I don’t assume animators get to do this a lot for teenagers reveals!

My character Scanlan will get some progress this season. Throughout the first season, he was a little bit of a simply one-note man — a Lothario and a participant, and a few would say a scumbag. This yr, he begins to comprehend that perhaps that form of a life isn’t tremendous fulfilling. He is aware of that there’s an issue and that he’s lacking one thing in his life and so he embarks on this new quest to strive to determine if yow will discover actual love!

Are you able to inform us about probably the most difficult facets of the brand new season?

Travis: I believe from a technical perspective it was an enterprise to go from one dragon within the first season to 4 very vastly totally different and attribute-driven dragons. Our CG supervisor at Titmouse, Eddie Gonzalez, and Manufacturing Reve in Korea are at all times as much as the problem. We actually wanted to beef up the CG staff in order that we might have dragons that have been forces of nature. These dragons are clever and have unimaginable dialogues, with personalities and dynamics that they’re working by. We have been actually impressed with what they have been capable of ship with these characters by way of animation.

In fact, the followers of Essential Position — or Critters as they’re affectionately known as — have been tremendous supportive of the present.

Sam: We have now the most effective followers on this planet. They’ve been simply wonderful by this entire course of, and they’re the explanation that the present exists. Once we write and file these episodes, we’re doing it with them in thoughts. They’re our touchstone they usually at all times inform us once we’re doing nice and in addition remind us once we might be doing higher.

Travis: We tried to be sure that the folks that know the present from the livestreams are saved on their toes. We didn’t wish to simply retread outdated floor. We wished to form of change the story a bit bit simply in order that issues are saved contemporary. We would like issues to pop up which might be new and simply hold them guessing like all people else.

That is the half the place we beg you to inform us one thing concerning the third season!

Travis: Effectively, the scripts have been written and a few are already in manufacturing. We’re working by storyboards and know that point is of the essence. We wish to get by as many of those tales as we probably can. We additionally know that we’ve a very strong staff Titmouse and we bought to carry on to these of us and hold them fed and shifting by stuff. We don’t take a break and wish to carry on rolling.

The fascinating factor now could be we’re in our third livestream marketing campaign. We’ve been going for nearly eight years now and each extra story we inform begins to tell the sooner tales. The universe begins to get larger and extra sophisticated. We’re doing that MCU factor the place you whiteboard all the things and work out how issues could be extra complicated and fascinating. I believe that’s actually the half that makes individuals salivate as they fight to determine when all of the mysteries are going to be revealed and the way!

Season 2 of The Legend of Vox Machina launched on Prime Video January 20 with three episodes; three extra premiered right this moment and new episodes will roll out Fridays. This week, Amazon Studios introduced a multi-year unique total TV and first-look movie take care of Essential Position. Their subsequent mission collectively is an animated sequence titled Mighty Nein, based mostly on CR’s second RPG marketing campaign. The sequence, which can even be produced by Titmouse, follows the titular band of criminals and misfits — who additionally occur to be the one hope of saving the dominion when an arcane artifact able to reshaping actuality falls into the fallacious fingers.