The Sojourn (audio drama)

The Sojourn is an episodic science fiction audio drama series written and produced by Daniel Orrett. Set in an alternate universe where humanity originated in an extragalactic star cluster known as Tantalus, it follows a band of privateers - ex-military captain Cassandra Farren (Larissa Thompson), humorous failed pirate Mathias Croft (Ben Prendergast), exiled medic Tamara Melari (Laura Faye Smith), and director Elizabeth Ancelet (Emily Serdahl), as well as alien holy inquisitor Castian Vadric (Stephen Trafford) and empress Valendra VI (Lelia Symington)^[1] - as humanity mounts an expedition to a distant nebula in search of resources to save themselves from a civilization-wide famine.

Humanity originated in an extragalactic star cluster known as the Tantalus Cluster on the Earth-like planet of Centrum, and had settled sixteen star systems. The three largest powers are the parliamentary Centrum Assembly, the Merician Freehold merchant republic, and the Frontier Union, an alliance of breakaway worlds from Centrum. After centuries of expansion, resources across Tantalus had begun running thin, sparking war between the Assembly and the Union. The decade-long war that followed ended with Centrum's victory, but only accelerated the famine across the Cluster. A year after the end of the war, a nebula was discovered, believed to hold the resources that could save Tantalus from its impending collapse.

The privateer starship Guinevere (the main setting for the series), crewed by Cassandra Farren, Mathias Croft, and Tamara “Meds” Melari, is hired to take part in the joint expedition bound for the nebula. During the transit, the expedition was scattered.

The Guinevere makes contact with the nebula's native inhabitants, the alien theocratic Advari, which immediately attack them. The expedition forces explore the nebula in search of pieces needed to construct the return gate to Tantalus. Cassandra begins dating expedition director Elizabeth Ancelet.

Advari inquisitor Castian Vadric is captured by the expedition and cooperates with them, but leaves as Advari ships approach. The expedition is attacked by them as they build the return gate. Only an handful of ships, including the Guinevere, escape back to Tantalus.

The Advari chase the survivors back to Tantalus, and the expedition is disbanded. Elizabeth is made a member of the Guinevere crew, and Cassandra’s father offers to help the crew in exchange for data on the nebula.

Vadric returns to the Advari, crashing on their abandoned original homeworld and learning the truth of their origins and religion.

• Larissa Thompson as Cassandra Farren, ex-Centran Defence Force officer and priavteer captain of the Guinevere^[2]
• Laura Faye Smith as Tamara "Meds" Melari, former Frontier Union citizen, ex-Centran marine, and doctor of the Guinevere^[3]
• Ben Prendergast as Matihas Croft, failed Merician condiment pirate and pilot of the Guinevere^[4]
• Emily Serdahl as Elizabeth Ancelet, scientist and director of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative; later crewmember on the Guinevere^[5]
• Stephen Trafford as Castian Vadric (Season 1, Faithless), the Advari inquisitor tasked to investigate the foreign Human presence in the nebula^[6]
• Lelia Symington as Valendra VI (Season 1, Faithless), queen of the Holy Advari Empire who begins to doubt the Advari faith^[7]

Originally conceived in 2014, The Sojourn was first announced by Daniel Orrett in late 2018 with a Kickstarter^[8] and Patreon^[9] campaign. The Sojourn was intended to have an animated motion comic component, with the concept shown in a pilot episode released on 31 December 2018. However, as The Sojourn is first and foremost an audio drama, production instead shifted focus entirely towards its audio component later in development.

The show was originally funded through Kickstarter, reaching its funding goals by 30 January 2019, having raised over 50,000 GBP for the series.^[10] Production began at that date. After meeting its crowdfunding stretch goals, The Sojourn production team were able to produce and release further promotional materials, including lore videos on the science of The Sojourn and the nations of the Tantalus Cluster,^[11] and digital rewards such as The Sojourn Visual Dictionary and The Science of Drift reference documents.

The first three episodes of The Sojourn were released as Volume One on 1 August 2020. Volume One wa mades available for purchase from Google^[12] and Scribd. Patreon and Kickstarter donors received access to the complete Volume One at time of release.

The release of Volume One was followed by the Cast Adrift podcast, which gave behind-the-scenes views of The Sojourn's production, as well as Anthology Shorts to Patreon backers, which expand the universe and character backstories. As of 7 August 2020, The Sojourn Season One, Volume One Soundtrack became available on Spotify and iTunes.

The episode titles of Volume 2 were announced on 20 March 2021. Volume 2 received a limited early release in the form of listening parties for Patreon supporters on The Sojourn's Discord channel, with episode four, Dust and Shadow, being released on 10 July 2021; episode five, The Promised Land on 17 July; and episode six, Theirs Not to Make Reply on 24 July. Volume 2 was generally released via audiobook retailers on 31 July 2021. The Volume 2 Soundtrack was released via Distrokid on 28 July 2021.

The episode titles of Volume 3 were announced on 6 August 2022. Like Volume 2, Volume 3 received a limited early release in the form of listening parties for Patreon supporters on The Sojourn's Discord channel. Volume 3 released on 17 September 2022, with the last episode of Volume releasing on 1 October 2022.

The episode titles of Volume 4 were announced on 5 May 2023. Like the previous two volumes before it, Volume 4 received a limited early release through listening parties for Patreon supporters on the official Discord. Volume 4, along with the complete first season, released on 14 August 2023.

Season 2 was officially confirmed to be in development on 27 March 2024, with Season 2, Volume 1 being slated for a release within the year. Like the previous two volumes before it. Volume 1's three episodes were released one week apart from each other in August 2024.

Volume 2 received a limited early release through listening parties for Patreon supporters on the official Discord. Volume 4, along with the complete first season, released on 28 June 2025.

The Sojourn released a spinoff feature-length audio drama, Faithless - A Sojourn Story exclusively on Nebula on 13. December 2024.^[13] Rather than being a series, Faithless was made length of a full-length movie, being just under two hours long.

On IMDb, The Sojourn received an average rating of 9.1 out of 10 based on 53 reviews.^[14] On Dab of Darkness Book Reviews, The Sojourn received a positive review, saying "the story maintained that tension of delicious suspense that kept me hooked the entire time."^[15] The Sojourn received an average of 4.9/5 on Google Play, based on 36 reviews.^[16] On Great Pods, The Sojourn received a 4.3/5 in its critical podcast review, with the critic Michael Bergonzi stating "The Sojourn has a deep history, but the technique used to dish the exposition out to the listener works better in a novel or movie."^[17]

• The Sojourn on IMDb
• The Sojourn on TV Tropes
• The Sojourn on Patreon
• The Sojourn on Spotify