The central friendship between the wizard Caleb Widogast and the goblin Nott the Brave is the emotional anchor of The Mighty Nein‘s first season on Prime Video. According to the show’s creators, this complex relationship, marked by dependency, secrets, and a painful separation, was deliberately crafted to show a “really good arc” of healing and partnership.
Executive producer Sam Riegel, who voices Nott, explained that the goal was to use their bond to tell a complete story across the season. “To have them have their first sort of fight and their first makeup, that felt like a really good arc for the season,” Riegel said in an interview. He emphasized the importance of showing their journey “from being two individuals to being a partnership, and then maybe at the end of the season, being part of a team or a group”.
The series introduces Caleb and Nott as two deeply broken individuals clinging to each other for survival. Caleb, a wizard haunted by a traumatic past, is on the run. Nott, a goblin rogue, copes with severe personal struggles through alcohol. Their alliance begins as a simple transactionโNott helps Caleb with a burglary in exchange for a drinkโbut quickly evolves into something more profound.
Riegel noted that the dynamic was designed to be fragile from the start. As the duo becomes part of the larger, budding adventuring party, their trust is tested. Nott keeps secrets about her motivations, and Caleb instinctively pulls away from connection. This shaky foundation sets the stage for a major rupture. Riegel also shared that recording scenes with Liam O’Brien, who plays Caleb, was a personal experience, as the characters’ friendship mirrors their own long-standing real-life bond.
Sam Riegel said: “Really tell a complete story over the season through that relationshipโฆ”
The crucial turning point arrives in Episode 7, titled “Belonging.” In this episode, the group splinters, and Caleb decides to leave to pursue his revenge against the archmage Trent Ikithon, effectively abandoning Nott. Showrunner Tasha Huo admitted this was a difficult chapter to write. “I hate episode 7,” Huo joked, because it forces all the characters apart.
However, she and the creative team argued this separation was necessary. Despite surviving adventures together, the characters had not yet become a real team. “These guys still just aren’t a teamโฆ would still not trust each other,” Huo explained. Isolating them was the only way to make them realize the value of what they were losing.
For Caleb and Nott specifically, this split forces a painful truth to the surface. Huo described Caleb as a character who constantly pushes people away, either to protect them or to punish himself. Nott’s refusal to let him disappear, despite seeing all his flaws, becomes the relationship’s emotional core.
Tasha Huo explained: “And there was something to me so emotional about how, no matter what, Nott sees through all of the warts and all of the danger of him and wants to be his friend”.
In the episode, a despondent and drunk Nott teams up with Jester, while Caleb encounters his former associates from his past life, the Volstruckers. Their reunion, where Caleb returns to ask for forgiveness, is a pivotal moment of earned reconciliation.
The focus on Caleb and Nott’s arc is part of a larger adaptation challenge. The series condenses a sprawling 141-episode Dungeons & Dragons livestream campaign into a structured narrative for Prime Video. The creators faced the task of introducing a complex world, handling dense character backstories, and translating intricate magic and designs into animation.
Unlike the original campaign, the animated series shows substantial backstory for the characters before they formally unite as a party. This includes new plotlines for characters like the drow wizard Essek Thelyss and the aasimar barbarian Yasha Nydoorin, whose introductions were restructured for the show. The team also incorporated deeper lore from the Critical Role universe, such as the history of the Volstrucker assassins and the dangerous substance known as Residuum.
The first season of The Mighty Nein, consisting of eight episodes, premiered on November 19, 2025, and is available for streaming globally on Prime Video.
