Chris Pine in D&D in front of Vox Machina There’s still no word on whether the live-action Dungeons and Dragons show is still happening. Paramount has stepped away from the D&D series, although it seems willing to shop it around. But, if and when it does happen, the production can learn a lot from Amazon’s The Legend of Vox Machina, which just finished releasing its third season while maintaining an incredible 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

There have been several live-action attempts at Dungeons and Dragons over the years, and while the most recent film, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, has proven itself a cult success, the other D&D movies are notorious failures. With the future of live-action D&D media now up in the air, prospective showrunners need to look for inspiration elsewhere if they wish to succeed. Fortunately, The Legend of Vox Machina provides a great template.

If A Live-Action Dungeons And Dragons Show Happens, It Must Learn From The Legend Of Vox Machina

The Legend of Vox Machina season 3 crew looking at something in a forest

Since its debut in 2022, The Legend of Vox Machina has been delivering just the kind of chaotic, violent, heartfelt adventure that D&D fans love. This is only to be expected, since Vox Machina is an adaptation of Critical Role’s first campaign, which not only used D&D rules but has since become canonized in D&D lore since the release of the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount sourcebook and Call of the Netherdeep adventure module. The Legend of Vox Machina is a distillation of what D&D is all about, an essential quality that any live-action adaptation must incorporate.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Vox Machina is the blend of honoring the D&D source material and accessible storytelling. While the show is demonstrably designed for D&D loyalists, its universal critical acclaim proves that the show is much more than fan fiction. This discipline is something any adaptation should incorporate. However, there are other important lessons for a prospective D&D live-action to implement.

What A Live-Action Dungeons And Dragons Show Can Take Away From The Amazon Series

Vox Machina watching the Sun Tree burning from a distance in The Legend of Vox Machina - Season 3 Episode 6Image via Prime Video

One of the main reasons Vox Machina has been so incredibly successful after three full seasons is that the show is just plain fun. The party members all get their moments in the spotlight, doing spectacular stunts and the jaw-dropping acts of violence that D&D players all dream of, but the show never gets bogged down in the minutiae of game rules. While players do love table talk, it can all too often detract from the dramatic tension of a scene – something Vox Machina patently understands.

Another important takeaway from Vox Machina is how the show handles exposition. Backstory, lore, and details are all essential to achieving the feel of a game of Dungeons and Dragons, but there is an important balancing act in avoiding either swamping the audience with too much exposition but also not leaving everyone scratching their heads as to what is going on. Honor Among Thieves did this well enough, but again Vox Machina nails the target, with the scope of the show slowly expanding as the characters gain more power and, to their dismay, more responsibility.

Demand for live-action Dungeons and Dragons content is only going to increase over the next year as the rest of the updated core rulebooks are released. Now that the third season of The Legend of Vox Machina has ended and a fourth season is already in the works, viewers will be looking to get their fill of foul-mouthed, violent adventurers wherever they can. Hopefully, a live-action D&D show will soon be announced that serves as a worthy successor to Vox Machina.