Lorin Williams November 9th, 2021 - 3:09 PM
Critters who have been enjoying the brand new season of the role-playing series, Critical Role, found one of the main characters departing the series early. According to a Twitter thread from Critical Role dungeon master Matthew Mercer (Monsters University, Hunter x Hunter), Bertrand Bell perished at the end of the season’s third episode. The character was voiced by actor and Critical Role regular, Travis Willingham (Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess, Ultimate Spider-Man). Mercer explained this plot point in a series of tweets below.
A little look under the hood for Ep 3…#CriticalRoleSpoilers
.
.
.
.
.
.Sooooo that was fun! Another little bit of a glance at what led to the end if tonight’s session: (1/4)
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) November 5, 2021
Travis wanted his C3 character to join in a little bit down the road (not unlike many classic JRPGs), but it led to an issue… I wanted Travis at the table and present for the first episode at least or more! (2/4)#CriticalRoleSpoilers
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) November 5, 2021
Mercer’s tweets explained how the creator and actor came at an impasse regarding his character’s role in the story. While Willingham wanted to appear later on in the season, Mercer envisioned him being involved from the very beginning. They eventually came to an agreement that Bell would appear from the start of the third campaign, but not for long.
When given the option to create a character, he was inspired to bring Sir Bertrand Bell back for this purpose, and we discussed the means of his exit. Travis proposed the “grim end”, but agreed he would not know how or when… (3/4)#CriticalRoleSpoilers
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) November 5, 2021
…and such, we anchored Bertrand into the story and watched where things went! Do not fret… Travis will return in the near future with his “true” C3 character, and it is gonna be a BLAST to see the paths collide! (4/4)#CriticalRoleSpoilers
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) November 5, 2021
Despite Willingham’s sudden exit, Mercer promised the voice-actor would return as a brand new character. Beginning in 2012 as an activity amongst friends, Critical Role has transformed into a multiplatform franchise that has spawned additional spinoff campaigns and an upcoming animated series at Amazon Prime. Along with Mercer and Willingham, the voice-cast of the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired series includes Laura Bailey (Monster High, Soul Eater), Liam O’Brien (Talks Machina, Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina), Ashley Johnson (Blindspot, Growing Pains), Taliesin Jaffe (Mr. Mom, Signal Boost), Marisha Ray (UnDeadwood, Super Power Beat Down), and Sam Riegel (Turtles Forever, Sofia the First).
New episodes of Critical Role stream every Thursday at 7 p.m. PT/11 p.m. ET on the team’s Twitch Channel. Each episode is available for VOD on Twitch immediately following an initial airing. The team’s YouTube channel will have the episode available the following Monday. Fans of the podcast can listen the following week on all participating platforms.
