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Back on March 13, 2013 a Kickstarter campaign was launched on the then-four-year-old crowdfunding platform to support the Veronica Mars Movie Project, which went on to not only meet its intended goal of raising $2 million dollars to fund the movie, but also actually raised $5,702,153 through the support of 91,585 backers (i.e., fans of the three-season long, low-rated but critically- and fan-acclaimed series that aired on UPN and then later on The CW).
Regardless of how Veronica Mars came to an end after its fourth TV season – which was made possible by the efforts put forth for this movie project – and how upset we the fans (yes, I was a BIG fan of the show AND donated money toward this movie project back in the day) became over the decisions made for that fourth season [which I won’t rehash because if you know, you know!], there is a new King – or more to the point – a new Queen in town.
That would be actress Felicia Day and her pop culture hit TV series The Guild.
But let me backtrack a little for all of you with a little more context about Felicia Day and her TV series.
Most avid fans of TV are aware of who Felicia Day is whether you are a fan of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, the Sci-Fi Channel (now known simply as Syfy) series Eureka, her beloved recurring role on the long-running WB/The CW series Supernatural, her role in the cult classic Joss Whedon online series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog or everything else in between and since for which she has appeared. Felicia is a multi-hyphenate, meaning she’s an actress, singer, writer and web series creator. She has also appeared on the stage at countless conventions and is well known within the gaming community. She’s also an accomplished violinist and holds a double major in Mathematics and Music Performance; and she is the proud mom of a daughter, who will be 10 years old this coming January.
Given her ties to the gaming community, of course, it only makes sense that fairly early on in her TV career she created and wrote the comedy web series known as The Guild, which revolved around the life of Cyd Sherman (aka Codex) [played by Day herself] and the lives of her online guild known as The Knights of Good. This guild played countless hours of a fantasy MMORPG (aka a massively multiplayer online role-playing game) referred to as The Game (similar to World of Warcraft). The story primarily focused on Codex, who was the guild’s healer, as she attempted to work on her gaming addiction.
Day spent time between her acting roles to write and create The Guild with the episodes from the first season, which debuted in 2007, airing on YouTube and The Guild’s own website. The series then partnered with Microsoft for its 2nd through 5th seasons with those episodes airing on Xbox Live Marketplace, Zune Marketplace and MSN Video then it was later available on The Guild’s website, YouTube and iTunes. With changes happening at Microsoft, and Day (smartly, I might add) wanting to keep ownership of the show, the episodes moved to Day’s own YouTube channel known as Geek & Sundry. In 2013, the 6th and final season of The Guild aired online.
All these years later, and with the 20th anniversary of the creation of The Guild looming, Day and her fellow The Guild cast members gathered in a Kickstarter video a few weeks ago to announce The Guild: Ren Faire’d would be happening with the help of its devoted fans
The new production will reunite Day, who again played the MMORPG character of Codex with Sandeep Parikh, who played Zaboo, Jeff Lewis, who played Vork, Amy Okuda, who played Tink, Robin Thorsen, who played Clara and Vincent Caso, who played Bladezz. It should also be noted that the cast of this new version of The Guild will include Castle, Firefly and The Rookie star Nathan Fillion (who starred alongside Day in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog), Misha Collins (of Supernatural fame) and Star Trek: The Next Generation alum Wil Wheaton, who appeared in the original production of The Guild as Fawkes.
Thanks to the good folks at Variety, Felicia shared the following: “Becoming the most-funded movie in Kickstarter history is completely surreal. We started this campaign because we wanted to prove there was still a way to make something weird and wonderful with the people who actually want to see it, instead of waiting for someone to give us permission. And once again, the Guildies showed up in a way I never could have imagined. I’m overwhelmed, incredibly grateful and so incredibly pumped to go make the movie they deserve. But mostly grateful. As the community says, suck it suits!”
The Guild: Ren Faire’d is in pre-production, but there is no confirmed start of shooting although filming is planned for 2027. Production will take place in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California.
NOTE: The Legend of Vox Machina still holds the record for biggest TV show Kickstarter project, raising 11.39 million from backers, but The Guild: Ren Faire’d now holds the record for number 1 Kickstarter Movie project.
You can check out the announcement video by Felicia Day and nearly all of the original cast of The Guild (sans cast member Amy Okuda) that opened up the Kickstarter campaign below:
[Source: Variety]And make sure to check back here at NiceGirlsTV for follow-up articles once The Guild: Ren Faire’d is released.
[Featured Image Photo Credit: The Guild and Kickstarter]
