“The Mighty Nein Origins” graphic novels played a key role in the first season of “The Mighty Nein” animated series. The backstory of Fjord Stone and Caleb Widogast is lifted straight off the page in many ways. Even the changes are in line with the spirit of the comics. A moment from Yasha’s past plays out briefly as well. Each member of the Nein has a detailed backstory that plays out in the comics.

Beau, Nott, Mollymauk, and Yasha still have either the entirety or at least key pieces of their backstories from the comics yet to be revealed. With season two, and hopefully beyond, of “The Mighty Nein” on the horizon, they could be deftly woven into the story as Fjord and Caleb’s were with the first season.

In an exclusive interview with Temple of Geek Tasha Huo reveals which of the comics she’d be interested in delving into. She also explains how hindsight as a writer and from the actors helps drive the story arcs. The main cast has a deeper understanding of their characters and their journeys because they’ve played out their arcs through the campaign, worked on the comics, and beyond.

The Mighty Nein Origins Play A Key Role In The Animated Series

While elements of Mighty Nein members’ backstories were revealed during the campaign, the comics were the first time fans truly experienced them. Now, “The Mighty Nein” brings them to life like never before. Caleb’s origins were more thoroughly fleshed out, as was Fjord’s relationship with Vandran. Huo reveals which of the Mighty Nein Origins comics she would like to pull from next.

Tasha Huo:

I think all of them are fantastic because they all… I mean, Yasha’s in particular, it was all just such a mystery to me. I didn’t know any of that. So that one is really fun. And I hope we get to dive into a lot of what’s in that story at some point. And yeah, I mean, they’re all good. Hopefully, if we get a million seasons, we’re going to get to go into all of these characters’ backstories that were started in the comic books, right?

Like Beau has a really interesting story herself as well with her parents and where she comes from, which is tagged a bit in season one. We get to hear snippets of, “Okay, that’s a sensitive sore spot for her. What is that about?” So that’s really fun. And then Jester’s comic is more about kind of where we meet her in 102. So, we couldn’t do all of that. Unfortunately, we tried to take the spirit of what was there. Her mischievousness outside in the real world and the things that she would do to get herself into trouble, which caused her to go on the journey to begin with. So that part was really fun. I mean, they’re all just good.

Hindsight Allows Deeper Character Analysis In The Mighty Nein

“The Mighty Nein” takes inspiration from the campaign while adapting the storylines to be more cohesive. It also shines a light on the larger story that was largely pushed aside during Campaign 2. From a character perspective, “The Mighty Nein” explores each of the members with more depth because they understand the full scope of these characters and their arcs. Fjord’s story in the animated series is told from Travis Willingham’s perspective instead of through the eyes of how the audience initially experienced it.

Tasha Huo: 

I think that one of the key challenges of this show is, we’re not a one to one show, meaning every single thing that happened in the campaign is not going to be adapted. That’s not the objective of the show, nor does it even function in television that way. So, the really fun, challenging thing has been to have these conversations with all of the actors playing their characters and understand them so fully. You kind of know what fills in the gaps, right?

You can kind of put them in any situation and say, well, Nott would be feeling this way because we know what her arc is, where she’s coming from. We know after all the conversations I’ve had with Sam, what complicated things Nott was feeling. And so, the more that you can really get into all of their heads, it makes the adaptation feel so much closer to the campaign because you’re never stepping outside of those characters and nothing feels inauthentic. So that is like my biggest hope for anyone who watches the show, who is a Critter: it didn’t do exactly what the campaign did, but it never felt like it wasn’t the campaign.

Changing the medium allows “The Mighty Nein” creators to dig further into the characters. It also allows the writers and Critical Role founders to approach the characters from a more holistic perspective. They know where the characters are by the end of the campaign. They understand the arc of each storyline and character evolution. “The Mighty Nein” is an opportunity for the founders to craft a more interwoven and cohesive story overall.

Tasha Huo:

All of these actors have so much more perspective now that they’ve done the whole show; basically, they now know where their character was arcing, and so it has been really fun to be like, “Okay, Fjord, where did you come from? Why did you behave the way you did when you first met the Mighty Nein? What was all that pomp and circumstance about with your voice changed?”

You can now get into that because they also, themselves, now see the complete story. It’s been really fun to see them get excited about getting to dive into those nitty-gritty details that didn’t come up in the campaign or maybe didn’t come up until the very end of the campaign. It’s so fun to be able to bring their characters to life in a new way that feels like it’s exactly the same. It’s warm and fuzzy, but also new.

The first season of “The Mighty Nein” is available to watch on Prime Video now.