HarmonQuest is an American television show created by Dan Harmon and Spencer Crittenden. The show is part animated, part live action. Harmon and comedians Erin McGathy and Jeff B. Davis, along with game master Crittenden, play a fantasy roleplaying campaign in front of a live audience, while each episode features a special guest player. It premiered on the subscription streaming service Seeso in July 2016. Due to uncertainty around Seeso's future, the show was transferred to VRV Select in June 2017, with its second season airing a few months later. In October 2018, VRV renewed HarmonQuest for a third season. The third season was released on August 18, 2019.
Cast and characters
Regulars
Dan Harmon as Fondue Zoobag, a half-orc ranger. He also plays Limerick O'Shift, Beor's resurrected brother, starting with season 3 episode 1
Erin McGathy as Beor O'Shift, a half-elf barbarian warrior, she resembles the comic book character Red Sonja
Jeff B. Davis as Boneweevil, a goblin rogue
Spencer Crittenden as the Game Master, Charles the Dragon and various other characters
Paul F. Tompkins as Teflonto, Earthscar's village champion and captain of the town's militia. Also a friend, mentor, and role model to Fondue and Boneweevil.
Chelsea Peretti as Deepak Chopra, a dwarven monk and the lone survivor of an attack by one of the arcane horrors unleashed by the Demon Seal.
Nathan Fillion as Teddar Spice, the new Elf chief of Earthscar Village.
Season 2
Gillian Jacobs as Chip, a goblin rogue that temporarily replaced Boneweevil during the year he was trapped in the Demon Realm.
Rory Scovel as Krandrelarius, a human witch whose name is as unpredictable as his personality, a previous acquaintance of Boneweevil that lives in a swamp.
Aparna Nancherla as Beauflecks Devrye, a demon hunter of Bonebreak Village.
Paul Scheer as Sensodyne, the Tooth Beast. A creature covered in glistening enamel skin-like armor.
Rob Corddry as Sandy, a barbarian of the Skulltree Clan and old flame of Beor's.
Kumail Nanjiani returns as Eddie Lizzard.
Season 3
Matt Gourley returns as Chadge. Having found religion, wielding Fondue's old blade that has his spirit trapped inside of it.
Kate Micucci as Hermie, a druid from a nearby transhelm.
Tawny Newsome as Donna, a Skull Tree Clan barbarian from the same village as Beor and Lymerick.
Reggie Watts as Graildokt, Quinzelflip and unnamed - three goblin allies from Goblopolis.
Joel Kim Booster as Toriamos the dwarven explorer and dungeon expert.
Jared Logan as Dave Pendergast, a paladin officer.
D'Arcy Carden as Hydronai Sesapoia, an adventurous bard.
Jessica McKenna as Flairence Sparrow, an inter-dimensional lawyer.
Carl Tart as Tampa Bay the Buccaneer, a sailor in the expanse of nothingness.
Tom Kenny as Legnahcra the angel from Virtuous Harmony.
Episodes
Series overview
All ten episodes of the first season were released on July 14, 2016, on Seeso. On October 19, 2016, HarmonQuest was renewed for a second season, but due to uncertainty around Seeso's future, rights to HarmonQuest were sold to Otter Media's VRV streaming service in June 2017. The second season premiered on VRV Select on September 15 and concluded on November 17, 2017. In October 2018, it was announced that VRV has renewed the show for a third season, which debuted on August 18, 2019.
Season 1 (2016)
Season 2 (2017)
Season 3 (2019)
Production
Development
Prior to the creation of HarmonQuest, Harmon had included a Dungeons & Dragons-style segment, hosted by Crittenden, at the end of the weekly podcast Harmontown. When Harmon pitched the idea of HarmonQuest, which was originally conceived as a low-budget online show, NBC Universalexecutive vice-president of digital enterprises Evan Shapiro became interested in the idea. When Seeso was developed as an NBC-owned comedy channel, an order for ten episodes of HarmonQuest was confirmed. The show is produced by Universal Cable Productions and Starburns Industries.
Filming and animation
The show is recorded in front of a live audience at Victory Studios in Glendale, California, with parts of the stories being animated later. Filming typically takes place over an hour, which is then edited down to the 25-minute runtime. Harmon has cited The Ricky Gervais Show as an influence, as it also features a mix of live and animated footage.
Reception
The series has been likened to Critical Role, a web series streaming on Twitch and later uploaded to the Geek & Sundry YouTube channel since 2015. Unlike Critical Role episodes which are long-form, full-play D&D podcasts often exceeding 4hrs, HarmonQuest has been praised for its accessibility towards casual and beginner audiences. Javon Phillips of the LA Times said, "The show makes its ventures a lot less time-consuming and ups the watchability quotient by throwing in animated segments in digestible half-hour episodes. Gamemaster Spencer Crittenden approaches the show as just that — a show. It’s not just players playing the game and showing off their multi-sided dice-rolling skills."
