''Side Quest'' is an American

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

television miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

created by

Ashly Burch Ashly Burch (born June 19, 1990) is an American actress, writer, director, and singer. She is known for her roles as Aloy in the ''Horizon (video game series), Horizon'' series, Chloe Price in the ''Life Is Strange (video game), Life Is Strange ...

, John Howell Harris, and Katie McElhenney for

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

. The series serves as a

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

of the television series ''

Mythic Quest ''Mythic Quest'' (known as ''Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet'' for its first season) is an American comedy television series created by Charlie Day, Megan Ganz, and Rob McElhenney for Apple TV+. The series premiered on February 7, 2020, and follow ...

'' and released all four episodes on March 26, 2025. It received generally favorable reviews.

Premise

In an

format, each episode explores the lives of employees, players, and fans of the video game ''

''.

Episodes

Production

Development

On December 15, 2022, it was announced that

ordered ''Mere Mortals'', an eight-episode companion series created and written by

, John Howell Harris, and Katie McElhenney. The series features new characters and focuses on the lives of employees, players, and fans of the game ''Mythic Quest''. The series was compared to the stand-alone episodes from ''Mythic Quest'', such as "A Dark Quiet Death" and "Backstory!". On November 14, 2024, the series was reannounced with its new title ''Side Quest'' and that it would consist of four episodes.

Casting

In the series announcement on November 14, 2022, it was announced that

Rob McElhenney Robert McElhenney III ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actor, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his role as Mac on the FX/ FXX comedy series '' It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' (2005–present), a show he created and co ...

and

Derek Waters Derek Waters is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and director. He is best known for his work on the television series ''Drunk History'' (2013–2019), which earned him eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Early life Wate ...

would reprise their ''Mythic Quest'' roles as Ian Grimm and Phil, respectively. Other actors announced include

Anna Konkle Anna Konkle (born April 7, 1987) is an American actress, writer and director. She is known for co-creating and starring as Anna Kone on Hulu's original TV comedy series ''PEN15'', alongside Maya Erskine. Her work on the series earned her two Prime ...

, William Stanford Davis, Bria Henderson, Rome Flynn, Leonard Robinson, Gary Kraus, Annamarie Kasper,

Esai Morales Esai Manuel Morales Jr. (born October 1, 1962) is an American actor. He has had notable roles in the films '' Bad Boys'' with Sean Penn and '' La Bamba'' with Lou Diamond Phillips. His television roles include the PBS 2002 drama series '' Americ ...

, and

Shalita Grant Grant (born August 28, 1988) is an American actress best known for portraying NCIS Special Agent Sonja Percy on '' NCIS: New Orleans.'' She is also known from her roles on ''Mercy Street, You, Santa Clarita Diet,'' and '' Search Party.'' Early l ...

Release

The first trailer for the series was released on February 28, 2025. All four episodes of the series premiered on March 26, 2025 on

, the same day as the fourth season finale of ''

''.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, ''Side Quest'' has an approval rating of 92% based on 12 critics' reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's consensus reads, "A modest spinoff of ''Mythic Quest'', this amiable anthology very much feels like an optional add-on but a breezily bingable one at that."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned a score of 65 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

References

External links

* * {{Ubisoft Motion Pictures 2025 American television series debuts 2020s American comedy television series 2020s American anthology television series American English-language television shows Apple TV+ original programming Massively multiplayer online role-playing games in fiction Television shows about video games Television series by 3 Arts Entertainment Television series by Lionsgate Television Ubisoft