Critical Role’s Liam O’Brien talks the tragedy and cosmic horrors of ‘Moonward,’ teases the crew’s next big publishing moves

by Cheryl Teh

Critical Role’s new podcast, “Moonward,” is a wild, four-episode dive into cosmic horrors.
“Moonward” builds on the “Midst” podcast, which Critical Role acquired in 2023.

It’s now all but official that Critical Role is in its expansion era.

Once best known for the show where eight nerds played “Dungeons & Dragons” on Twitch, the business has now grown, with an aggressive push into podcasting and publishing, including novels and comics slated for release well into 2025.

CR also has two Amazon-backed animated series in the works, one of which will premiere on October 3. Through its games publishing arm, CR released a major role-playing game “Candela Obscura” last year and just rounded out its open beta for its new gaming venture, “Daggerheart.”

CR rolled out “Moonward” in August, a spinoff of the company’s 2023 acquisition of the “Midst” audio drama. In “Moonward,” CR cofounders Liam O’Brien and Marisha Ray step into the space Western-style, cosmic horror narrative that Xen, the narrator of “Moonward,” wove to explore the ruins of a fallen moon.

BI sat down with O’Brien and Xen to talk about the new podcast venture and what comes next.

INTO DARKNESS

“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.”

“The most in-depth characters I’ve done on our channel are really just exploring things about my life,” O’Brien said. “I love fluff. I certainly love romps, fun, and light stuff, but if anyone is familiar with my past work, I like cracking open the coconut and seeing what’s in there.”

And unlike CR’susual “Dungeons & Dragons” games, the narrative control in Midst didn’t rest on dice rolls. As the lead narrator, Xen gave all the players the license to choose when to fail.

“Moonward” listeners will also hear Xen create the soundscape for the podcast live with their guitar and other instruments. And they’ll hear Xen play the role of the enigmatic non-player character, Mother Trauma.

“There’s something wonderful to me about a kind of haunted therapist who is borderline inhuman,” Xen said. “Possibly some kind of potentially undead person — but he’s also a mental health professional and a guidance counselor.”

AND BEYOND

CR’s acquisition of the “Midst” podcast doesn’t just mean there’ll be more of Xen, Roen, and Wile’s content — there’s also a series of upcoming comics set in the “Midst” universe that are rolling out soon.

Each comics issue will be a stand-alone “Midst” story, Xen said.

“We’ve always been pretty adamant that ‘Midst’ is and has always been more than just a podcast,” Xen said. “We’re still exploring new ways to expand that cosmos.”

O’Brien, too, tells me that he’s been doing a lot of “reading behind the scenes.” Each of CR’s eight co-founders has their own focuses, he said, and he’s been helming the company’s push into book publishing and graphic novels.

“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.”