Amazon Prime Video has just launched their new animated D&D adventure ‘The Legend of Vox Machina’, but how many episodes will season 1 have?

In a world of Halo, Call of Duty and League of Legends, it’s the iconic role-playing game ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ dominating the global conversation on social media.

This is thanks to Amazon Prime Video releasing their latest original animated series from Critical Role, The Legend of Vox Machina.

The first three episodes premiered worldwide on Friday, January 28, but how many episodes will season 1 of The Legend of Vox Machina consist of?

The Legend of Vox Machina episode count…

Season 1 of The Legend of Vox Machina will consist of 12 individual episodes, as confirmed by Variety.

These 12 episodes will be released via Amazon Prime Video in four weekly ‘batches’ from the following dates:

  • Episodes 1-3 – January 28
  • Episodes 4-6 – February 4
  • Episodes 7-9 – February 11
  • Episodes 10-12 – February 18

In 2021, Netflix’s hit League of Legends series ‘Arcane’ utilised a similar release format, with the hype from fans building from one week to the next. If The Legend of Vox Machina experiences a similar level of success internationally, we could see this release format become the new norm for the major animated productions.  

Kids show vs political fantasy….

The cast and production team for The Legend of Vox Machina recently sat down with Polygon to discuss how important Amazon Prime Studios have been.

Marisha Ray, who plays Keyleth in the new series, said that “We lucked out with Amazon” as other companies would have wanted it to steer towards a different demographic; either for a kids show or a political drama.

“There were other potential distributors that we were talking about that were more interested in making it maybe a children’s show, or wanting to go a different direction, or [make it into a] more serious political fantasy, a la Game of Thrones.” - Marisha Ray, via Polygon.

Sam Riegel, who plays Scanlan Shorthalt, added that the characters in the series “were bawdy and rowdy and dirty, and we knew that we couldn’t shy away from that. We had to embrace it.”

“Amazon was cool about pretty much everything. In our earliest meetings with Amazon, they were like, ‘This isn’t for kids, right?’ And we were like, ‘No, it is not!’ And they were like, ‘Great, we’re on the same page then. Go.’” – Sam Riegel, via Polygon.

The first reviews are in…

The Legend of Vox Machina has only been available to stream via Amazon Prime Video for only a few hours, but the first television reviews are already in!

At the time of writing, the series is scoring a fantastic 99% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 9.4/10 on IMDB – although these figures are expected to change over the opening weekend.

Inverse says that the execution of such a project “is a natural 20”, praising not only the humour and voice cast’s performance, but arguing that “the consequences of Vox Machina’s potential popularity are enormous.”

A similarly stellar review comes from Variety, who also touch on the series’ humour as well as the broader appeal to fans who may not necessarily be fans of Dungeon & Dragons or Critical Role themselves.

“The direction is marvelous, kinetic, with a great sense of space and an eye for visual flair. The visual humor is always top notch. And thankfully, “Vox Machina” treats its audience intelligently: there’s no time wasted explaining magic, elves, or barbarian rages.” – Variety.

However, it is worth noting that not every review of The Legend of Vox Machina is as encouraging as these two.

TechRadar gives the first three episodes of the new series only three and a half stars out of five, praising the humour and animation, but critiquing the storyline and pacing.

“For a D&D-based show, the inclusion of some on-the-nose imagery in the first few episodes is a tad jolting, too. Some viewers may appreciate such additions in such a TV serial, but they can feel forced, particularly in earlier episodes.” – TechRadar.