Arcane has come to an end – but is it really the end? No, because there are more plans for series based on League of Legends.
The animated series Arcane will go down in history as one of the best series adaptations of a video game of all time. However, it was already clear some time ago that the second season would mark the end of the series – the story involving Vi, Jinx, Piltover, and Hextech is thus concluded.
However, Riot, the developer behind League of Legends and therefore also Arcane, has already revealed: There are many more stories to come.
What is going on with Arcane? The animated LoL series “Arcane” on Netflix has ended. After Episode 18, the story concludes, and the series will not continue. The reason for this is not that the series was a failure – quite the opposite – but rather the initial plan: The story has been told, and viewers have seen exactly the story that was planned from the start.
What happens after the end? For the creators of Arcane, namely the game developer Riot Games and the animation studio Fortiche, Arcane was just the beginning. In an interview with Polygon magazine, showrunner and co-creator Christian Linke spoke about the future:
We have over 160 champions in our game. There are a lot of them that I think: I want to know their story. Now is fortunately the time when we can start to dream big. We have a range of different projects that we are currently exploring. Nothing is in production yet, but we are creating stories with all these different tonalities, and they should be different. They shouldn’t just feel “okay,” but each should have its own style and shading. That’s the next step for us.
What ideas are planned? When it comes to details, they are still keeping relatively tight-lipped – at least in this interview. However, it seems clear that the next series will have a different core mood than Arcane.
We haven’t made one for the more quirky side of League yet; Arcane is quite dark. But there are also many fun characters. There are Lulus, Teemos, Amumus, Poppies, or Tristans. What are we going to do for them? (…)
And I think I would take these things into different extremes in a [new show], like different genres. What will we do in the horror genre? What will we do in a more abstract, artistic approach? That is the true power of animation. You are not restricted by what reality is. We should take advantage of that.
3 series planned, three new areas will be explored
In an interview with Twitch streamer Nectrit94, Linke addressed more details – and the plans sound much more concrete there. For he reveals that three additional series are planned:
Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia are getting series, and they are the next steps in this cinematic universe.
In other words: A lot more is coming.
However, how long it will take before that happens is questionable. Because Arcane was in development for a full 9 years – the first season premiered after 6 years – and the next series has reportedly been in development for about a year. If the same pace is maintained, we likely won’t see the new series until 2029. But that is pure speculation for now.
How good was Arcane? To simply call Arcane a success would probably be an understatement. Looking at the ratings of individual episodes on IMDb, Arcane is one of the highest-rated series of all time. The episodes range between 8.5 / 10 and 9.8 / 10 points. The second season has taken it up another notch – not a single episode is rated less than 9.1 / 10.
The only criticism that comes up from time to time is the ending. Many agree that 5 or 10 minutes showing the “after” would have provided a better closure. Yet, even with this minor flaw, Arcane is considered by many to be the best series of all time.
Expectations for the next series from Riot and Fortiche in the “League of Legends” universe are correspondingly high. It will be challenging to convince viewers once more from another part of the world of Runeterra and evoke feelings like those experienced with Arcane. Perhaps we will get to see more of the “LoL” MMORPG.
