Here’s how Zerxus Ilerez ended up in ‘The Legend of Vox Machina’ Season 3

Season 3, episode 4 of The Legend of Vox Machina is a serious Vital Position crossover occasion. Not solely does the present proceed adapting Vital Position’s first live-streamed marketing campaign, it additionally incorporates a key character from Exandria Limitless: Calamity, a four-part mini-campaign set centuries earlier than The Legend of Vox Machina and run by Brennan Lee Mulligan.

The character in query is the paladin Zerxus Ilerez (voiced by Luis Carazo, who additionally performed Zerxus in Calamity). He’s the present proprietor of the Plate of the Dawnmartyr, one of many Vestiges of Divergence that Vox Machina want in an effort to defeat the dragon Thordak (voiced by the late Lance Reddick). Their quest brings them to Zerxus’ dwelling within the Hells of Despath, the place he and cleric Pike Trickfoot (voiced by Ashley Johnson) play a high-stakes card sport for the Plate. The sequence tweaks components from the unique marketing campaign, which noticed bard Scanlan (voiced by Sam Riegel) gamble for the Plate with a fireplace big within the Elemental Airplane of Hearth.

“From a narrative perspective, we had a chance to mix two story beats from our marketing campaign,” Travis Willingham, who voices Grog Strongjaw, instructed Mashable. (Willingham can be an government producer on The Legend of Vox Machina and CEO of Vital Position.) The sequence may take Vox Machina’s stint within the Hearth Airplane, which does not have the largest story hook by this level within the present’s timeline, and merge it with the concept that Ank’Harel ruler J’mon Sa Ord (voiced by Mara Junot) would have hidden the Plate within the Hells to maintain it as removed from Thordak as attainable.

“And proper after we had completed EXU: Calamity, with Zerxus’ destiny being despatched to the Hells, it simply popped up that possibly 800 years later, he is nonetheless down there, and that may be a pleasant factor to weave into the story,” Willingham continued. “Notably among the lore that was revealed in EXU: Calamity, and the way the Calamity kicked off, and why that is perhaps vital to bigger antagonists within the story that we’d attempt to make the most of in a bigger manner if we get future seasons.”

Zerxus’ look isn’t any temporary Easter egg. As a substitute, he performs a meaty function within the episode, with the present paralleling his sophisticated relationship to his deity — in Calamity, that is Asmodeus, Lord of the 9 Hells, though he goes unnamed right here — with Pike’s personal doubts in her religion within the Everlight. Of their encounter, he additionally offers Vox Machina a fast rundown of the occasions of Calamity, accompanied by a stained glass-style animated interlude harking back to the marketing campaign’s introduction sequence. Showing within the interlude are Zerxus’ companions, the opposite participant characters from Calamity.

“I feel there is a hidden want on our half to include everybody from Calamity in some unspecified time in the future,” Willingham mentioned. And with extra animated Vital Position tasks in improvement with Amazon Studios, together with a Mighty Nein sequence coming subsequent yr, a full Calamity adaptation of some form will not be too far-fetched.

“It is ripe for a film, a mini-series, one thing — we’re simply making an attempt to determine the very best supply technique for it and the way it will match into all the pieces,” Willingham mentioned.

There is a hidden want on our half to include everybody from “Calamity” in some unspecified time in the future.

For now, although, it seems like we’ve not seen the final of Zerxus Ilerez in The Legend of Vox Machina. When Pike and her companions escape with the Plate of the Dawnmartyr, he utters a really foreboding assertion: “We’re his blood. The time for his ascension attracts close to.”

The phrases echo these spoken by Delilah Briarwood (voiced by Gray Griffin) and different cultists of the Whispered One — often known as Vecna within the authentic marketing campaign — all the way in which again in Season 1. May this imply that The Legend of Vox Machina is positioning Zerxus because the Whispered One’s champion? And if that’s the case, would that imply the sequence is mashing the Whispered One and Asmodeus collectively? Or did Zerxus select to serve one other deity within the hopes of making an attempt to redeem him, as he hoped to do for Asmodeus in Calamity?

“A Redemption Paladin continues to be gonna redemption,” Marisha Ray, voice of Keyleth, instructed Mashable. (Ray can be an government producer on the present, in addition to Artistic Director of Vital Position.) “I feel it is very becoming, as a result of there are a number of entities on the earth of Exandria that would match that ticket of possibly being redeemed.”

“We’re hoping we’ll see some conspiracy theories [about that line],” added Willingham.

On prime of prompting fan theories, Zerxus’ addition to The Legend of Vox Machina is additional proof of why the present is without doubt one of the most fascinating works of adaptation on TV in the present day. Zerxus did not exist as a personality when Vital Position’s first marketing campaign got here out — audiences did not even get to fulfill him till months after Season 1 of The Legend of Vox Machina premiered. But as Vital Position continues to develop via its varied campaigns, it is creating extra supply materials for its animated variations to attract from in actual time.

“Considered one of my favourite issues about engaged on the animated present is that after the Vox Machina marketing campaign ended, we continued to increase and enrich the world and create historical past. We created future tales, however we additionally expanded what the previous was,” Liam O’Brien, voice of Vax’ildan and government producer, instructed Mashable.

“That is actually the very best factor about variations. You may undergo and sprinkle in among the good things that wasn’t there earlier than,” added Ray.

She continued: “I feel we’re actually fortunate within the sense that we’re growing Mighty Nein in actual time with The Legend of Vox Machina, in addition to nonetheless persevering with to shoot Marketing campaign 3 and different ancillary stuff. So we’ve got this 5,000-foot view of all the pieces — aside from all of the stuff that’s to be decided on the finish of Marketing campaign 3 — however we are able to take the Jenga blocks of the story and transfer them round to suit properly.”

In order The Legend of Vox Machina continues its run, be looking out for extra substantial hyperlinks to Vital Position’s different campaigns. Zerxus could be the first Calamity crossover, however from the sounds of it, he in all probability will not be the final.

The Legend of Vox Machina Season 3 premieres Oct. 3 on Prime Video, with three new episodes each Thursday.