The Dungeons and Dragons live-stream giant, Critical Role, goes dark effective March 17th amid concerns over the Coronavirus, or COVID-19. This Twitch-based show has been live Thursdays every week since 2015, with the very rare exception of all of the cast attending a convention or it being Christmas week. But with the previous episode leaving off on a cliff hanger, fans will now have to wait for the story to resume.
There is no defined length of time yet for Critical Role to start back up. This cancellation also includes their weekly follow-up talk show, Talks Machina, hosted by Brian W. Foster. Currently, their pre-recorded sister show, All Work No Play, will continue to air Tuesdays until its finale on March 31st. Older episodes of the show and related content are still available via VOD on their website, Twitch, and YouTube. They released a statement on Twitter.
The health and safety of our CR family is important to us. Because of that, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily stop all live broadcasts, effective 3/17. We will provide updates via social media as well as our website.
For more info, visit: https://t.co/IGd2N9LWMU
— Critical Role (@CriticalRole) March 17, 2020
Fans have shown their support for this decision and love for the cast and crew. Coincidentally, this is the same day as Critical Role’s second D&D campaign guide, Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount is released. It may be a challenging time for the show to go dark. They are a relatively new company and are in the middle of pre-production for their first animated series which will air on Amazon Prime. They also have a handful of new products released in their shops. But, if history is any indication, they make optimal use of technology to stay in touch with each other and fans. One cast member, Ashley Johnson, spent many of these past few years filming Blindspot in New York City and would stream in digitally for the show on Thursdays.
Critical Role did state on their website that their staff will work from home, and that their social media accounts would stay updated with the most recent information.
