At San Diego Comic-Con 2025, Critical Role and Prime Video confirmed that The Legend of Vox Machina will come to an end with Season 5.
Season 3 ended with the defeat of the Chroma Conclave, but the victory came at a heavy price. The party is scattered across Exandria as each member copes with loss, consequences, and unfinished business.
That’s where Season 4 picks up and the show’s creators are leaning into a more character-driven approach this time.
Season 4 Will Be More Character-Driven
Some of the arcs revealed during the panel:
- Keyleth returns to the Fire Ashari to continue her Aramenté trials, with Vax by her side. We’ll also see him deal with the consequences of bringing Percy back to life.
- Scanlan goes on a world tour with his daughter Kaylie. Some are hoping that Sam Riegel (Scanlan’s voice actor) will step in to voice Taryon Darrington, who temporarily joins the group in his absence.
- Percy and Vex head back to Whitestone for Winter’s Crest with Gilmore in tow.
- Pike and Grog travel together on their own path, still under wraps but clearly important.
A new trailer shown at the SDCC panel gave fans a thrilling look at what’s to come: the party reuniting to pull off a dangerous heist. Their mission? Steal a secret scroll hidden deep inside a heavily fortified vault in a Cobalt archive.
The overarching threat tying all these solo journeys together? A cataclysmic force darker than anything they’ve faced before, The Whispered One, a powerful archlich teased back in the Season 3 finale. (Longtime Critical Role fans will recognize this as the series’ take on Vecna, the ultimate undead villain from the original Critical Role campaign.)
The creators promise that while the tone remains playful and irreverent, this season will carry more emotional weight. Each character’s journey matters and those emotional beats will ultimately build toward an epic final confrontation in Season 5.
Ending On Their Terms
It’s bittersweet to watch the series head into its final arc. I’m not a Dungeons & Dragon fan but I like how the writers are able to balance dramatic moments and their high stakes with comedy that embraces debauchery. There aren’t a lot of adult animated shows that aren’t gross out cringe comedies. That is starting to change and I believe that Vox Machina helped play a part in that. Instead of dragging things out, the creators are choosing to end the show on their terms and I’m happy they even have that option.
At the panel, Critical Role co-founders Sam Riegel and Travis Willingham made it clear that this story was always meant to have an end. They’re grateful that Prime Video gave them the freedom to tell it fully. It went from an ambitious Kickstarter dream to an animated hit with mainstream recognition.
The show’s success proved there’s an audience for fantasy, for character-driven arcs, for real stakes, with a side of dick jokes.
Enter: The Mighty Nein
Also announced at SDCC: The Mighty Nein, a new animated series based on Critical Role’s second campaign, premieres November 19, 2025. Set about 20 years after the events of Vox Machina, the show follows a different group of adventurers and promises longer, hour-long episodes, returning cast members, and high-profile guest stars.
So while Vox Machina may be preparing to say goodbye, the world of Exandria is far from finished.
As much as it stings to say goodbye to The Legend of Vox Machina, ending it with intention is a rare and admirable move.
Here’s to the final two seasons of Vox Machina. May it be messy, magical, and end exactly as it should.
