“Midst,” the podcast series that “Moonward” builds upon, was originally created by Xen, Matt Roen, and Sara Wile. Critical Role acquired “Midst” in 2023, and “Moonward” is just one part of a larger story.
Spoiler alert: In the podcast’s third and fourth episodes, O’Brien’s character, Walden Orlock, contends with a boatload of personal trauma. But the series ends on a hopeful note, as Orlock, piloting his spaceship, manages to help get Wile’s character back to the relative safety of the planet of Midst.
Orlock, who O’Brien describes as a “nice, grumpy bear,” was a homage to some of the men in his family. And the inside of Walden’s spaceship was a tribute to the Burning Man community, of which O’Brien considers himself a “junior member.”
“Critical Role: Vox Machina — Stories Untold,” for one, is an anthology scheduled for release in March, and O’Brien wrote the foreword.
“We hope to get into original, brand-new things that have nothing to do with a table or dice,” O’Brien said. “And it’s all just different flavors of storytelling. And I love filling my days with it.”