Brennan Lee Mulligan Breaks Down Critical Role: Downfall, His Inspirations & Dream Final Calamity Story (2024)

Critical Role: Downfall is set centuries into the Calamity in the city of Aeor. At this time, Aeor has decided that the real problem is the Gods spurring them on to create a weapon capable of killing the Gods. This was a tipping point that led to a cease-fire between the Gods, seeing Aeor as their biggest threat. Downfall follows six divine figures and their role in the destruction of the flying city of Aeor which is at the height of its power.

Although details about these figures are being kept under wraps, it seems likely that they are either Gods themselves or directly connected to these figures. Downfall features the return of Brennan Lee Mulligan as Dungeon Master, which was set up at the end of the live show at The Greek, along with Critical Role cast members Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, and Ashley Johnson. Noshir Dalal will also return to the Critical Role table after appearing in Candela Obscura with Nick Marini and Abubakar Salim joining the cast as well. This three-part special is set within Campaign Three with both the audience and Bells Hells experiencing these events.

Screen Rant interviewed Brennan Lee Mulligan about Critical Role: Downfall. He broke down how Downfall stands out from Calamity, including the cinematic and visual inspirations for both. Mulligan also revealed which moment he'd like to close out the trilogy, his approach to Aeor, and if the Aeorian accent he established in Calamity will return.

Downfall Is A Snapshot Of The Middle Of The Calamity: "The Gods Called A Timeout To Go And Destroy Aeor"

Mulligan has a busy month with Critical Role: Downfall, Dimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Up, and Worlds Beyond Number, each releasing new episodes weekly. This means Mulligan will have a new episode of each show debuting on a different day for three weeks. He joked that this is almost the amount of Dungeons & Dragons he played as a teenager.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: There is going to be a week or two in July where I will be DMing three episodes in a row in that week. I have thought about that. I'm like, oh my gosh. Wow. We've officially reached the point where I might be, I've often said as much D&D as I'm playing. I don't know that we've reached the level that I was playing when I was a teenager. We might be approaching. I think we're approaching now. I think that we might be getting there for sure. Very exciting.

I know you and Matt have kind of been toying with the idea for a while. I remember all the way back at Comic-Con last year, Matt said he wanted to do more Calamity stories. Then you guys have been trying to figure out how to introduce this for a good chunk of this year. What, for you, was the most exciting aspect of getting to return to Exandria and specifically, this untouched time? Because really you're the only one that's had any playtime where you've been forming the story as the GM in the Calamity versus Matt who's just built the history.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: Wow, what a great question. I mean, number one, being a guest in Matt's world is such an incredible gift and honor. Exandria and its lore are so impossibly rich and textured and amazing. Basically, as a huge fan of Critical Role, looking back at Matt's history has been finding these moments and working with Matt on basically identifying historical moments that have this epic scope to them, but also have a point of view through the narrative that needs to be seen, first person to understand the weight of that history.

So you look at Calamity and it's that turning point of there was a moment where the Age of Arcanum ended and the Calamity began. Talking with Matt post Calamity about are there any other historical moments that ring out in that way? It all began with a conversation around Aeor with this line of text that was, the betrayer gods and the prime deities halted their war in order to strike down the city of Aeor, which was developing a weapon capable of killing the gods.

Now that's a single sentence and the level of complexity of moral horror, the level of divine wrath and the stories of the gods and the mythic proportions of that and what that means. It is a really intense moment and even talking with Matt about it, I was like, so the Calamity is unfolding over centuries, this enormous length of time and all of Exandria is choked under the weight of this divine war. It is an apocalyptic setting. That's one of the things too that we're going to be able to see in Downfall is a snapshot of the middle of the Calamity, which is this enormous time period and the Gods called a timeout to go and destroy Aeor.

I think that there is so much weight in that that it's like you have to sit with that sentence for a moment to really think about what that means, right? It's very heavy. Then I just got excited about that historical period and about all the stuff to do with that. Matt was so excited about this, which is why it's so funny because I am now the guy who's told two stories about cities that fell out of the sky, but what I don't think you could have two stories that are more different than Calamity and Downfall.

Both in the themes that they're tackling. In terms of the perspective involved in the stories. I'm so excited for people to be hit with Downfall and it's also quite different because of course Downfall has very different objectives than Calamity had because Downfall exists in the continuum of campaign three. It is episode 99, 100, and 101.

So all of Downfall can really be understood as a moment or chapter shown through the image of the past, shown through this sort of recording deep in the heart of fallen Aeor and therefore what the story is attempting to do is to exist in and of itself, very much watchable in and of itself, but really as a set piece also within Campaign three. Matt volleyed to me at the live show, and this is very much set up to be this story that not only has its own impact, but specifically has impact for Bells Hells and for Campaign three.

The Other Sky Cities Of The Past "Need To Start Shaking"

While Calamity showed the start of this apocalyptic event, it was an Exandria Unlimited story. This meant that while it does impact the larger lore of Critical Role, it wasn't directly tied to the events of the Campaigns. Downfall stands out because it is a part of Campaign Three, meaning the rest of Bells Hells story will be tied to these events. Mulligan also joked about being the one Critical Role calls when they need to destroy one of the flying cities.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: I think so! I think so. When it's time to get freaky and scary, I get a little ring-a-ling on my phone and I say, "Put me in coach, get me in there. Let's drop another one." There's a lot. Aeor, Avalir, the other sky cities of the past need to start shaking. It's not looking great for them, I'll be honest.

You have Madison Square Garden coming up, so this almost, to me, felt like dipping your toe into that water. How did it feel to be not only introducing the show at The Greek, but closing it out on stage as the GM?

Brennan Lee Mulligan: Oh, it was a privilege and an honor. It was delightful to be on stage with the whole gang. Live performance is such an incredible gift and art form and it's so fun to feel that energy and enthusiasm coming off the crowd. I mean, I'm a creature of live performance. I did improv in New York for years and years and years, was on Tour Co and did bigger shows and auditoriums. Doing the Greek and being the emcee and getting the energy up.

We just had for Dimension 20 an awesome tour in the UK and Ireland and did a bunch of theaters there throughout. My show with my wife Bigger, did a bunch of shows in the UK and Ireland and is going to be doing some shows here in the US in future as well. I love live performance, I love theaters. I love being with crowds and audiences, so it's been a true, true delight. I'm very, very grateful.

Now with Downfall, can you talk to me a little bit about what you were excited to do in Aeor, which is different from Avalir and are you going to be bringing the accent you established with Bolo to all the Aeorians?

Brennan Lee Mulligan: Well, something to bear in mind about the classic Aeorian in accent as established improvisationally in cahoots with Sam Riegel. Here's the thing, people give me a lot of credit for Bolo, but we need to remember Bolo was not created by me. Bolo was created by Sam Riegel. All I did was like a God smiting the opponents of said God, I just smote Sam in that moment by making his terrible nightmare come to life in front of him.

In terms of the classic Aeorian accent, that Slavic accent that you heard, what I'll say is Aeor is, at this time in the Calamity, Aeor is the last bastion of the Age of Arkanum and the apex might of the Age of Arkanum. There's other cities and other pockets of mortal civilization, but nothing compares to Aeor at the height of its civilization.

As a result of that, I envisioned Aeor over a century into the Calamity as having a mixture, not necessarily in its leadership structure, but as having a lot of the survivors of Exandria living in the city. We really have to envision that yes, Aeor had this infrastructure because Aeor survives as a crash. You experience Aeor as the height of the Age of Arkanum because that's the technology and the architecture that it had. The living city, its population, which when we see it in Campaign two is dead. That population in terms of mortal lifetimes, unless you're an elf for another long lived thing, you grew up during the Calamity.

So the living city of Aeor is not a product of the Age of Arkanum. It's a product of the Calamity, and so therefore you see a lot of people and even some of its Arc Magi as being from across Exandria. Survivors, people that have fled there, people that found their way there. Of course Aeor looking for its project, I think would've tried to absorb any resources of mortal mite in Exandria in its attempt to exert power and dominance and end the Calamity under its own plan for ending the calamity. Which was, Hey, I think we've isolated the problem and it's the gods, right? To answer your question about the Bolo accent, I think Aeor will be a little more metropolitan than that, shall we say.

Brennan Reveals the Inspirations That Set Downfall Apart From Calamity

"There's One From Oppenheimer Of Cillian Murphy Sort Of Staring Ahead"

Downfall will explore a city that, while the world is in a constant state of disaster, is at the height of its power with refugees flocking to it as one of the few safe havens remaining. This set-up puts into perspective why at this time, the people of Aeor may have believed that the Gods were the problem, given how long the Calamity has lasted and the number of people that have died. While Brennan kept details about the six divine figures close to the chest, he did share details about the inspirations he pulled from, including movies, books, genres, and even paintings.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: I can only say that in many ways this is a reflection or photo negative, almost, of Calamity. This is a very different story, and while it exists in similar spaces of disaster and Calamity and of being the story again, the thing on the back of the VHS tape of a city falls out of the sky. This is a story of how that happened, right? Couldn't be more different. It couldn't be more different in terms of the perspective that we're following in this story. Also, I would say Calamity was a traditional disaster story.

I had this, so this was my original Player's Guide to Calamity, which I've shown before, and you see it's Independence Day, Jurassic Park, Rogue One. It's all these sort of movies about like, Oh God, it's happening. I won't show you the images I have on players' Guide to Downfall, which maybe I'll show after it comes out, but I'll name check a few of them. There's some of the images that I have there are like the Clash of the Titans, the Gods staring down at the Greek world from Olympus.

There's one from Oppenheimer of Cillian Murphy sort of staring ahead. There's one of Wesley Snipes from New Jack City, the meme with the tear down his face, and I think there's also a degree of the tragedy. Some of the other imagery, mood board, things that I used for Downfall were the tale of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth with the blood on her hands or the horrifying portrait of Saturn devouring his children. There's a lot of things. So I would say tonally, we're in a very different space.

This story has huge elements of horror. I think in very unexpected or hard to anticipate horror within it. I think there's also a tremendous amount of in this one, in terms of the divine figures that you're talking about, I won't tell you necessarily who all everybody is playing. I want that to come out as the show comes out. But what I can tell you is the cast. Man, this cast, they are so profoundly talented and they play characters very different from themselves and the way they led me through the story. Because it's very much them leading the way and the things they do in this story are some of the most incredible, haunting. I really can't wait for people to watch this. I think people are going to be blown away.

This is such a cool cast. What is the most exciting thing about playing with this cast, which includes players you've never played with before?

Brennan Lee Mulligan: A joy, a privilege, and an honor. So playing with Laura was amazing. Laura was supposed to be in Calamity and then work took her away, and Marisha was an absolute joy and an honor to play with, and my God, Patia was so brilliant. It was really lovely to be able to play with Laura this time for realsies. Taliesin and I have played in little one shot things digitally before we played in an episode of Vampire together. I love Taliesin so much, but it was great to actually really get to GM for Taliesin. And then Ashley was just so superb and delightful and getting to play with all of them. I've now GMed for everyone, but Matt and Liam at Critical Role.

We need another Calamity is what you're saying.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: Yes, we do a really small city with just two people on it. It's like The Little Prince, but it's just Liam and Matt running around in a circle going, Oh, no. So then we had Nick Marini at the table, Nick who I've played with for years and years and years, and I love. Nick is an actor from Cobra Kai. He's done a bunch of other work in traditional acting in film and television and is one of the most phenomenal D&D players I've ever played with. I think he was the first person that made me weep through his performance in a scene in a home game, not even in an actual play.

Just the level of commitment and gravitas he brings to his characters is so profound. He's just such a talented actor. And then [Abubakar Salim], I've been a fan of for so long. Abu is incredible on Stream of Blood and is now in House of the Dragon and is just a phenomenal voice actor. His character is just so unbelievable and amazing. And then Noshir Dalal who killed it in Candela Obscura, it was such a delight to be able to play with Noshir who is again, such an incredibly talented and generous performer. Just an absolute privilege to play with him. So I think across the board it was just like a gift. I was so delighted to have this table.

Calamity & Downfall Have Similar Goals "To Show You Who These Characters Are"

Downfall is being shown to Bells Hells by Ludinus, it seems, in the hopes of swaying them to his cause. This seems to set up Downfall to show why the Gods should be feared and destroyed. Keeping that and the inevitable destruction of Aeor in mind, Mulligan explained how the players had the freedom to tell their characters' stories while staying true to the doomed end of the city. He also hinted at the vastly different story and tone of Downfall and Calamity, which could mean where Calamity followed corrupt individuals making a noble choice in the end, this could be the opposite with seemingly "good" characters making a dark choice.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: So we know that Aeor is doomed and without telling too much about what our heroes or what their stories sort of entails this it is, I think that EXU Calamity was about who the Ring of Brass really are. Who are they? Right? Before the events at EXU Calamity, the Ring of Brass were villains straight up. Corrupt Patia and Laerryn and Nydas especially so, but certainly Cerrit and Loquatius and Zerxus were all complicit in the kind of corruption of this high Age of Arkanum Magocratic city, and it took wrath and ruin to shake them from that corruption.

And in their final moments, they attempt to, with spoilers for EXU Calamity, attempt to save Exandria as best they can. I think in this story, once again, if the goal of the story is to prevent Aeor from falling, we're not doing our job. The goal of this story is to show you who these characters are. The same goal we had in EXU Calamity, right? Who are these people? We find out their nature throughout these episodes. I think that watching these actors and performers go through this story is really profound.

In terms of the freedom, I basically talk to them about the freedom of these characters they were playing and saying much in real life you have limited control over your circ*mstances. You have tremendous control over your actions. So that's really what we're focusing on here. We're not so much focusing on looking at this like a puzzle and if you solve it you stop Aeor from falling.

Although we did keep the same rules, which I said three Nat 20s in a row and you get to stop Aeor and they have to redo Campaign two and a lot of Campaign three. But you have a lot of control over your character's actions and feelings and how they're moving through this space. So that was really the playground for us. That was the sandbox.

Off topic comment, I need a Ring of Brass prequel novel and I need it now.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: The Ring of Brass prequel novel will just be about six people kind of corrupting a city and stealing ether.

It's all I want. I want it so bad.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: You want it so bad? Be like these are, I don't know about these people. I know we'd be getting a prequel about Ebenezer Scrooge where you're like, this guy's so mean to the poor. You really catching him in his best moment. And I think that's the truth for the Ring of Brass as well.

We have the Lucian novel. It's not like he does a bunch of great stuff. He does bad stuff.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: That's a great point. That's a great, great point. Absolutely. Yeah, that's very real. Maybe there is a market for that. You know what, Caitlin, you should pitch it.

I will pitch that immediately to everyone I meet. One of the things I love is that you and Aabria have been able to bring these new fresh perspectives to the world of Exandria that has fleshed out the history and the world. What has been some of the conversations you two have had in this kind of exclusive club of being able to really impact the story that Matt is telling?

Brennan Lee Mulligan: Yeah, I mean it's been delightful, right? It's very funny. It's like, talking about Scrooge. It's like Aabria is the ghost of Christmas present and I'm the ghost of Christmas past. You know what I mean? Where it's like Aabria is taking you to other places to see what's happening right now, and I'm taking you into the past to see a sad school boy crying. But I think that the main bit of comradery we feel over this is just a deep and profound gratitude to Matt.

Matt has built something, even the word extraordinary kind of does it a disservice, right? This is a campaign world just textured and crafted with love and care and attention and mapped out through the adventures of him and all of his players at the table and all of their incredible choices and decisions, multiple source books. It's so rich and profound, and the idea of having something that precious and turning to your friends and saying, I want you to put something in this. I want you to inscribe something in this.

It's not a small deal. It's actually a kind of magnanimity and graciousness that is very rare to find. Even, I think very generous collaborators still have moments of going like, Well, let's collaborate over here, but this is very special to me. Matt has truly taken a magnum opus of GM ing and world building and design and opened it up in a way that I think reflects a generosity of spirit, a courage and a degree of faith and trust in Aabria and me that I just do my best to feel the weight of. It's a really remarkable and a really special thing.

The Divergence Is "The Last Momentous Epic Moment That I Think Makes The Most Sense"

Mulligan revealed what Calamity era he would like to explore with Mercer and O'Brien, the only remaining core Critical Role players, to potentially close out the Calamity story as a trilogy in the future.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: Well, you know what? I'll just say it. I'll just throw it out there. I'll throw it on out there, Caitlin. Let's have it be a Screen Rant, scoop all an SRS. I think that to me, if you're starting with the transition from the Age of Arkanum to the Calamity, and then you're talking about the Downfall of Aeor. I think that I would be really happy with a trilogy in the past, and then I would be interested in like, Okay, let's go to the future or let's go somewhere else. Let's do Exandria Cyberpunk a thousand years in the future.

But in terms of the past, I think if I was going to do this again, the last momentous epic moment that I think makes the most sense is probably the Divergence, right? That's the last massive chapter of that historical period. It sort of is the beginning, middle, and end of this pretty significant period of what does it mean for the Gods to leave? I think that there's probably a very fascinating story somewhere in there. I don't know what it would be. I don't know what the perspective of that story would be, but I know that the creation of the Divine Gate and the Gods leaving is pretty damn heavy. So I think that's another interesting moment.

Oh, I need that now.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: But we'll see. There's a lot of other interesting stuff out there and who knows. But I just think in terms of, there's nothing in the works, there's nothing in plans, but in terms of just me, Brennan being a fan of Exandria. the Divergence is the moment that I think is like, Oh, that's an incredibly critical moment in Exandria's history.

I completely agree. And you have to put in the universe. It's why I'm going to talk about the Ring of Brass book until it gets made. You got to put it out there.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

Brennan Explains Why Never Stop Blowing Up Allows Him To Go Off The Rails

In complete contrast to Critical Role: Downfall, Mulligan is leading a new season of Dimension 20 that is leaning into the hilarity of 1980s action movies. Never Stop Blowing Up follows a group of regular people pulled into the world of a 1980s action movie, like in Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, as they inhabit characters from this world. Mulligan teased what audiences can expect from this hilarious action-filled season and why it allowed him to be the most off the rails he has ever been as a GM in the dome.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: Oh my God, explosions, blowing up, kaboom are the three words. Caitlin, the fact that there will be three weeks this summer in which Downfall is coming out alongside Never Stop Blowing Up will be the biggest indication to people that maybe I'm two different guys. You know what I'm saying?

That I'm like the prestige twins, and there's two of me actually, and we're kind of running around doing stuff because it is just so wild. The vibe couldn't be more different. You'll see never stop blowing up with [crazy noises of chaos] and then it'll go to Downfall with [spooky organ music] that's going to be the vibe. So I really can't wait. It's such a privilege. What a privileged and lucky, and fortunate life. Oh my goodness,

Carlos said it was like the most improvised season and it has not disappointed so far.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: You know what I'll say this about, Never Stop Blowing Up. Here's something that I'll say about as the season goes along. Part of being a GM is keeping things on the rails and rails kind of has to do with what did you prep? What are your battle sets? Do you have stat blocks ready? Did you get the dungeon? Did you read the module? And all that sort of stuff. Right? But I am a classically trained improviser, and so I think that one of the things that groups of PCs that I will run with for a little while from time to time, they'll think about my play style is like Brennan's got to keep things on the rails.

I'm doing that as a courtesy to our incredible art shop and Rick Perry, our brilliant projection designers, Derek and Ruby. There are amazing artists whose work I have to feature and celebrate in this sort of show. I want to keep things on the rails so that we can incorporate those incredible works of art. When you take that out of the picture, you don't think I can get nasty? I can get nasty.

And if I don't have rails to keep us on, you better watch out baby, because it is on. And so that's the joy of Never Stop Blowing Up to me is the structure of the show was altered a little bit so that I could not only follow the most outrageous impulses of the PCs, but also sometimes make them try to keep me on the rails. And that was really delightful.

I love it. I can't wait for more. And Arc three of Worlds Beyond Number has been amazing. The witches are terrifying and I am here for it.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: Thank you so much. The next few episodes of chapter three are out of this world. July is going to be a big month. July is a big month.

About Critical Role: Downfall

Critical Role: Downfall is a three-part special set over a century into The Calamity, following six divine figures and the role that they played in the destruction of the flying city of Aeor

Check out our interview with Taliesin Jaffe about Campaign 3 and the Critical Role live show.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Critical Role

Fantasy

Adventure

Livestreamed weekly on Twitch since 2015, Critical Role brings together a group of professional voice actors as they play through a series of elaborate Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. Originally produced by Geek & Sundry, the series garnered a large and devoted fanbase during the first campaign, allowing the cast to create their own company in 2018. Matthew Mercer heads each campaign as Dungeon Master, with a cast that includes Ashley Johnson, Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Liam O'Brien, Taliesin Jaffe, and Marisha Ray.

Cast

Matthew Mercer , Sam Riegel , travis willingham , Laura Bailey , marisha ray , Orion Acaba , Taliesin Jaffe , Liam O'Brien , Ashley Johnson

Release Date

March 12, 2015

Seasons

3

Network

YouTube TV

Streaming Service(s)

YouTube , Twitch

Writers

Sam Riegel

Directors

marisha ray

Showrunner

Brandon Auman