“Midst” originally launched in 2020 before Critical Role partnered with the creators in 2023. This partnership has proven especially fruitful for the creators as they expand what began as an audio drama-style podcast into an ever-growing universe. This includes not only the original “Midst” podcast but also Dark Horse comics, a TTRPG story called “Moonward,” and the continuation of the “Midst” story in the new podcast “Unend.”
“Moonward” notably featured Critical Role founders Marisha Ray and Liam O’Brien. It was the first Midst production to feature collaborators outside the original creators, Xen, Sara Wile, and Matt Roen. It was also the first audio and visual production with the game filmed in the studio as opposed to the usual podcast. Now, “Unend” is exploring a new aspect of the “Midst” world with all new characters set years after the exploits of “Midst” and “Moonward.”
In an exclusive interview with Temple of Geek, Xen, Wile, and Roen shared insight into “Unend.” They explain why they were excited to delve into exploring the Midst Cosmos and break down their main protagonists. The trio also reflects on how their understanding of the world has evolved through the addition of other voices including the comic book writers and artists, Ray and O’Brien, and other artists involved in “Midst” projects. They also reveal the balance between improvisation and planning as well as how Critical Role has helped them while giving them the freedom to tell their stories.
Unend Explores The Midst Cosmos Like Never Before
Temple of Geek: What was the most exciting part of exploring a new part of this world that you guys have created with “Unend?“
Xen: Literally exploring a new part of the world that we’ve created. We’ve teased this big cosmos in so many ways, at so many times, suggesting there’s all this stuff out there. Dropping all these hints left and right, but we’ve never gone to see any of it.
Sara Wile: “Midst” didn’t actually cover that much ground, cosmically speaking.
Xen: Yeah, so the fact that we’re going there now to scope it all out is very fun.
Temple of Geek: I think one of the things that’s very cool to me with this is how you’ve been able to expand with “Midst” and then “Moonward,” there’s comics you have “Unend.” What has been the most rewarding part of this journey for you guys in being able to expand this into a full-blown universe instead of a singular story?
Matt Roen: That is a big question. Yeah, there’s a lot to answer there. It’s just a thrill to explore other mediums when it comes to storytelling. The reason we had kind of started with this podcasting format was because it was something that was relatively graspable for us, where we were at with the amount of time that we could dedicate. The technology that we had available, and just sort of our combined interests in sound and telling stories the way that we do.
So that it’s gotten to kind of broaden its horizons to be that kind of game experience that we saw with “Moonward” that we’ve been able to collaborate with the team at Dark Horse on the comics, I should say. A third of which is due out in December, which is just nuts and exciting, all the same. It’s been a thrill to get to expand and explore the ways in which these kinds of stories can be told in these other formats.
Sara Wile: I would add that our narration style was largely inspired by tabletop gaming, so it was just really cool to be able to sit down with Liam [O’Brien] and Marsha [Ray] and do a TTRPG style storytelling experience with them.
Temple of Geek: How has bringing in other voices like the folks at Dark Horse and Liam and Marsha helped to maybe expand your own understanding of this world or open new doors that you would not anticipated?
Sara Wile: Oh my gosh, that’s such a good question. I mean, even going back to the art for the YouTube versions of the episodes, that kind of started the process of bringing in other creatives interpretations of our cosmos. There were just constantly surprises. Anytime you’re porting something from a purely audio medium into something visual, especially when you didn’t expect that to happen from the very inception, there constantly were always questions coming up of, well, what does something look like?
Say, an artist drew something that didn’t look exactly how it did in my mind, I would always ask myself, well, is that a problem? We’re always telling ourselves and telling the fans that the true Midst Cosmos now, because it’s more than just “Midst” the show, is the one that you see in your head. I feel very strongly about that.
So we all definitely have our own head cannons about things, but they’re just that head cannons. I like to think that they don’t overrule or delegitimize what a fan, or in this case, another artist or a comic writer is experiencing in their mind. That said, we do obviously try to correct obvious canon discrepancies when they come up. It’s not a total free for all.
Unend Is The Perfect For New Listeners & Longtime Fans
Temple of Geek: I know “Unend” is standalone to a degree, but for fans who have listened to “Midst” and have watched “Moonward.” How does “Unend” potentially tie into those or have maybe Easter eggs where it’s a little bit rewarding for them to have followed all of the stories?
Sara Wile: We tried to sprinkle in callbacks and expansions on the lore that would be enjoyable for anyone that was already familiar without making anything like required reading.
Xen: “Unend” is the direct continuation of “Midst” and “Moonward.” We don’t describe it as a sequel in a technical sense. A sequel implies that it is mandatorily in a certain order where “Unend” is not. But many questions that listeners might have, especially listeners who are previously familiar with “Midst” and “Moonward,” many questions will be explored. Questions that listeners of those previous productions might have.
There may be answers to some things that might be more fulfilling to listeners who’ve enjoyed both “Midst” and “Moonward,” prior to checking out “Unend.” Like I said, I don’t think there’s any lack of richness or detail or interest for people who not scoped out original “Midst” or “Moonward,” but for fans who’ve made it their business to consume all the material, there’s a lot that I think they will discover in “Unend” that is very much there for them.
Sara Wile: We’ve tried really hard to make it consumable in any order, though.
Matt Roen: Yes, but in the same way that we are kind of locked in our own familiarity with the stories that have been told in the Midst Cosmos, and because we’re involved in “Unend” and the comics and so on. It’s sort of hard to totally divorce from that experience.
The approach that we’ve taken is to try and create more and many different kinds of on-ramps to the type of story that “Midst “is and the type of cosmos that it represents. So getting to join along in a sort of heroic exploration voyage in “Unend” is going to be a little bit of a different time than a descent into the depths of a lunar hunt in the form of “Moonward.” So hopefully they give kind of different flavors, but still that same “Midst” texture, if that makes sense.
Temple of Geek: Can you guys talk to me a little bit about the characters that we meet in “Unend” and how they stand out from past characters we’ve seen?
Sara Wile: Oh, yes. I’m very excited about our current trio of new protagonists and all the supporting characters too. We love our “Midst” characters, but we feel very satisfied with the conclusion that their arcs reached. And we’ve just been working with those characters and thinking about those characters for so long. We were all excited to explore very different archetypes. So my main protagonist, Cleo, is about as much of a perfect opposite as I could create from Lark. My previous character, I was just ready to play someone who expressed emotions and be silly.
Matt Roen: I guess speak to the transition from my own characters going from Phineas in “Midst” to Dusty Rivers in “Moonward,” and now Merlin Vo, the Cosmologist aboard the ship in “Unend.” I’m excited to be getting to reside in a character that’s a little bit more, at least publicly self-assured. In a way that I think the other characters, Phineas and Dusty haven’t quite [been]. There’s a little bit more confidence, I think. And at least what he thinks at the outset of the voyage, whether that remains the same, will have to see through the course of the show. But I am very eager to explore kind of that dimension of a character instead.
Sara Wile: As someone who has, I mean, both of us have known Matt for years. It’s very fun to see Matt just finally play the Wizard because Matt loves to play the Wizard.
Matt Roen: Thank you. I just feel seen. I do love Wizards.
Xen: Yes. And you do have a fondness for playing professors.
Matt Roen: I do. That’s true.
Sara Wile: Yeah. He’s not literally a wizard. He’s just wizard coated.
Xen: For many years I’ve played the character Moc Weepe in the original “Midst” who was a capering and diabolical and psycho. Complete maniac, absolutely devious, villainous. And now my primary protagonist in “Unend” is this character called The Granddaughter. Who is a quiet and shy young acolyte of an order of mysterious healers from the deep fold. It is about as different from Moc Weepe. You could get.
Sara Wile: Well, we don’t know very much about them yet.
Xen: Yes. Where I, for many years, have played an incredibly bombastic and kind of berserk villain.
Sara Wile: Not a quiet guy.
Xen: No. It’s a nice change of pace to switch to a perhaps slightly more. I dunno if relatable is the word, but at least not total psycho.
Sara Wile: They haven’t revealed too much of themselves yet.
Xen: They might be a psycho, who knows, but at least so far they don’t seem too psychopathic, a change for me.
Midst Creators Break Down The Balance Of Improvisation and Planning In The Story
Temple of Geek: One of the things I so appreciate about your guys’ story telling style is the improvisation aspect. I always think that’s such a fun thing. With the cosmos that you guys are exploring now and with how vast it is. What was maybe the most surprising part about exploring the cosmos with the improvisation element of your storytelling?
Sara Wile: We don’t leave too much up to chance when it comes to the big discoveries that they’re making out in the cosmos. We plan everything pretty extensively, but when it comes to line by line, we really like to surprise each other with what we’re saying.
With “Unend,” we’ve left in a lot more of what we would previously consider, like bloopers. Instances where we make each other laugh or trip each other up a little bit. Just kind of letting those awkward, naturalistic conversations stay in. I’m trying to think of a more direct answer to your question, where improvisation has shaped the exploration of the cosmos, though.
Xen: The improvisation is not so much in deciding what our characters will encounter that we plan very intentionally, but it is the reactions our characters have to those discoveries That in plenty of cases are still largely improvised. So it’s not so much what it is that we’re stumbling upon out there around the cosmos that is an improvisational surprise to us, as much as just watching how our characters respond to what they discover, and that’s fun.
They’re discovering some pretty unusual things and getting to see people at the outer limits of mortal comprehension. What they do and how they behave and what that does to them is somewhat more improvised, and it’s pretty fun to watch. It’s cool seeing what happens when you bend people to the very limits of their human psyches and let them go and sit back and watch it.
Temple of Geek: With “Moonward,” I love that you guys had other voices in there, and had those new dynamics created. Have you thought about more potential stories where you would bring other people in to expand the worlds through their voices as well?
Sara Wile: We’ve considered it. I think for, I guess our main audio drama content, we have a system down pretty well that is very tied to the dynamic that the three of us have together. So I think for our main content podcasts, we haven’t necessarily considered that.
“Moonward” was really eyeopening, and anyone who has played any TTRPG knows that the exact combination of people that you bring to a game or a project massively defines the flavor and the direction of the story that you’re telling, as does the writer or the artist that you have for a comic or something like that. So it’s definitely something that we have more experience with now, and it’s food for thought for sure.
Critical Role Are Fans First and the Perfect Place To Expand The Universe
Temple of Geek: What has been your favorite part about working with Critical Role to expand this world and to make “Midst” a full universe?
Matt Roen: The fact that they haven’t said no to us yet? Is that an okay response?
Sara Wile: There’re huge enablers.
Matt Roen: Yeah, there have been scenarios where we’ve sort of looked to Critical Role and said, we’re interested in taking the story in this direction. And at every turn, at every moment, the producers all the way up to the founders that have just been like, we like what you’re doing, keep doing it. So there hasn’t been much oversight.
Sara Wile: They don’t meddle with the creative process at all. They’re just there to help us promote it, bring it to the people that would most like to hear it hopefully, and strap rocket boosters to our projects.
Matt Roen: Truly. That’s what it felt like. Yeah, the opportunity to get to share that with you in this conversation and to be able to show how that happens and looks is something that we’ve been really very much enjoying the process of ourselves and hope that it’s something that we can be also upfront about too.
Xen: One thing that’s particularly fun and special about working Critical Role on our Midst projects is the reality that they themselves are first and foremost fans of “Midst.” I mean, we’ve had opportunities in the past to connect and work with and work with other organizations that weren’t specifically fans, but they were interested in doing sort of a business operation with us because it was advantageous or seemed timely to them.
But the fact that Critical Rule has connected with us because they just liked “Midst.” Originally they just wanted to chat us, because they were fans. One thing led to another, and that’s what they’ve been primarily to this day, is fans of the work. They are, some of our most vociferous fans, whenever we’re assembling and putting out new “Unend” episodes, they of course are the first to hear them before they go live from general public, and the feedback we get from them is just the best feedback we could get from fans of “Midst.” They just like listening to “Midst.”
Sara Wile: They’re very encouraging,
Xen: Really fun and gratifying for us. So working with them is far more than just a promotional operation. They are fans of our work and we’re fans of their work, and it’s really fun to be fans together of each other and share and making weird stuff that’s really special.
Matt Roen: Yeah, especially also the way in which getting to do “Moonward,” literally in a sound stage with official producers who know how to do an experience like that kind of group around a table telling a story. But in such a profoundly professional way.
That has been above and beyond just the greatest thrill of this experience, the connections that they’ve been able to leverage, the ways in which we’ve been able to collaborate and do that kind of crazy quirky storytelling together with them. I think that’s the joy, that’s the magic of the Critical Role of partnership for sure, for me.
About Midst: Unend
“Unend is an audio drama created by Third Person, the three-person team behind Midst and Moonward. “Several decades after the events of MIDST and Moonward, a supernatural ship and a remarkable crew set forth on an expedition to explore the highest heights, deepest depths, and furthest reaches of the known cosmos.”
“Unend” is available on your preferred podcast platform and the Midst Podcast YouTube Channel every Wednesday. Beacon subscribers can check out episodes two weeks early uninterrupted by ads and gain access to lore expanding bonus content.
