When adjusting hours and hours of actual play, the cast and crew of The legend of Vox Machina had to make some changes. Some are hugely emotional arcs built from originally smaller moments, while others offer an opportunity to gain knowledge that evolved years after the original version.
And in the case of the season finale, it was a chance for a cast member to make amends for a spontaneous decision made years ago.
(Ed. remark: This post contains major spoilers for the end of season 3 of The legend of Vox Machinaas well as spoilers for the Vox Machina Critical Role campaign.)
Most party members decide to part ways: Vex (Laura Bailey) and Percy (Taliesin Jaffe) will return to Whitestone to help rebuild; Vax (Liam O’Brien) will join Keyleth (Marisha Ray) on the next part of her great spiritual journey; Scanlan (Sam Riegel) goes on a world tour with his daughter; and Grog (Travis Willingham) and Pike (Ashley Johnson) stick together and go on more adventures.
It’s all quite amicable, bittersweet, but ultimately a result of characters just needing to be in different places after their big climactic battle.
However, the moment in the original campaign wasn’t nearly as peaceful – either in character or character.
“My character in the original campaign really clicked with the group,” says Riegel. “Throughout the season, it just didn’t seem right to end a season with Scanlan being super pissed off at the rest of the group after what they had just gone through. It made sense in the campaign because the campaign was going on.” He pauses for a moment and then grimaces before adding, “And even in the campaign it wasn’t right! Everyone at the table was mad at me for doing it.
“Shocked!” Bailey intervenes.
Tabletop role-playing is improvisational by nature, and because the story continues, players can have their characters make big, drastic decisions, like storming their parties. But a television program has a more limited scope, so it was important to keep the story organized.
“(It) just didn’t seem like a nice way to end,” Riegel said of the change. “If that’s the end of the series, not a nice way to end the series with one character angry at everyone else, then the credits roll. So we tried to merge that story and shape it into something that was a bittersweet farewell rather than an angry farewell, in the hopes that we can still revisit that anger later in the series if we get more seasons.
The season ends with a lot hooded cultists who sing eerilyso the newly announced season 4 of The legend of Vox Machina will certainly raise the stakes. At least in the meantime, we can take comfort in knowing that they are parting on good terms.