MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CAMPAIGN 2, SHOO IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT. Speculation on the timeline of season 1 (and bits of season 2) of The Mighty Nein Animated Series
Now that we know that The Mighty Nein Animated Show is going to have longer episodes than TLOVM, that's definitely changed the "when are they going to kill Molly?" math. (Poor Vox Machina, eldest child and the guinea pig as always). 45 minute episodes, presumably still 12 of them per season. This makes me think it's MUCH more likely Molly dies in season 1, I'm basically 100% sure. They've already mentioned Essek and have Matt cast as him (yay!) so a tiny part of me is wondering if they're going to go even further than I thought. Maybe they end season 1 in Xhorhas on Caleb's "I can't go back to jail" move where we meet Essek and he shows them around. I don't think they're going to do that though because that would require a LOT of timeline shuffling.
It's doable but they'd have to move the pirate saga to a later date. What's far more likely in my humble opinion, is that they make it so Essek is one of the Drow the Bright Queen sends to Zadash to recover the Beacon. Maybe he's the guy they run into in the sewer instead. Rather than him dying they get separated or something (He gets into a fight with a wizard and drops the beacon idk they can make it work) so he's not with them the whole time and the story can progress relatively the same otherwise.
If he was actively sent by the Bright Queen with others, he wouldn't be able to get out of it. He could be trying to sabotage it off camera in ways the audience doesn't see, you can make it make sense. Meeting Essek early would be great set up for season 2, they'd go through Fjord's arc, then when we get to Xhorhas to look for Yeza, we'd see Essek again probably somewhere in the second half of season 2.
Before when I thought MN were getting the same episode allotment as VM I was thinking if they didn't end season 1 with his death, they might end season 1 with the kidnapping and kill Molly somewhere in the first 3 episodes of season 2. I'd assumed they would take some artistic liberties with the timeline, rearranging and maybe adding some Uk'otoa {Uk'otoa} stuff or what have you from after Molly's death in beforehand in order to keep him around a bit longer but still have reasonable time management.
They have more time to really build Molly's relationships with everyone so now I'm thinking they might go straight through Molly dying, meeting Nila, meeting Caduceus, saving Fjord, Jester, and Yasha and maybe it ends with Jester asking where Molly is if they want to be cruel about it. (Hopefully Nila's in the animated show, I LOVE her! I don't see why she wouldn't be, she's pretty important to this part of the plot,).
I could see season 1's layout very roughly being something like this: Episodes 1, 2, and 3; session 0 backstory and circus storyline, maybe knolls. Before this I thought they'd skip the knolls but now that they have 45 minute episodes I'm not sure. They might've kept it in to show low level shenanigans. Plus it's where the MN first meet Shakasta. I was just assuming they'd make The Sour Nest their first meeting with Nila. But now if they have the extra time, it would be cool to meet him early in the season, then see him again in the finale. Hopefully the Bad Luck Bandits end up somewhere in the first 6 episodes, they're so fun, but sadly they are very skippable plot wise.
4,5,6 and 7, 8, 9 not sure exactly where the mid point cut off for this stuff would be; going to Zadash, meeting Pumat, the tower explosion, (maybe meeting Essek if they choose to go that route). Meeting the Gentlemen, (I'm still pretty sure we're skipping the underground river quest/puzzles). Having fun at the The Harvest Close Festival and the Victory Pit, Caleb getting to have a PTSD Briarwoods moment off in the corner about Trent that nobody but the audience notices. Hopefully meeting Kiri, getting Kiri to Hupperdook, (Kiri might get skipped but I'm hopeful she's in there because of the extra time and because of how great she is as a plot device for spilling secrets lol). Maybe episode 9 ends with the kidnapping, maybe 9 ends with Molly's death. Somewhere in here we meet Keg (Keg might get skipped, but again, she's kind of too important plot wise to fully skip because of her connection to the Iron Shepherds).
I think 10, 11 and 12 will start right after the kidnapping or right after Molly's death and go from there. Molly's funeral, Meeting Nila, Meeting Caduceus, traveling to Shadycreek and fighting to free Fjord, Jester, and Yasha. Maybe it's a sad end with Yasha screaming in grief on a hill in a lightning storm. Or maybe it ends on a more positive note, with the refjorged group on the road to Zadash or Nicodranas (depending on if they want to skip straight to Jester's mom without stopping, which would make sense as a time saver).