Picture: Jinx (voiced by Ella Purnell) in Arcane – Riot Games
It was a long wait, but after three years, Arcane recently returned to Netflix with an emphatic second season. We knew this would be Arcane’s last before the second season’s release, with both Netflix and the team behind the show confirming that it’d be coming to an end. However, some outlets have recently reported that Arcane was canceled – so which is it? Well, no, Arcane wasn’t canceled. Here’s what we know.
Arcane, created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, is an action-adventure adult-animated series on Netflix set in the world of Riot Games’ League of Legends. Produced by Riot Games and Paris-based animation studio Fortiche, Arcane was released on Netflix in November 2021. Critics and fans praised the series, citing its success partly due to the world-building, art direction, score, soundtrack, voice acting, and more.
Ahead of its highly anticipated second season’s release, Netflix revealed that season 2 would be the show’s last. While many fans were left puzzled that a beloved show with such critical success was coming to an end after only two seasons, showrunner Christian Linke immediately addressed the future of the League of Legends franchise on Netflix:
“Arcane is just the beginning of our larger storytelling journey and partnership with the wonderful animation studio that is Fortiche. From the very beginning, since we started working on this project, we had a very specific ending in mind, which means the story of Arcane wraps up with this second season. But Arcane is just the first of many stories that we want to tell in Runeterra.”
Image Credit: Christian Linke (left) and Alex Yee (right) the creators of Arcane – Courtesy of Riot Games
Although Christian Linke clearly stated in his messaging that Arcane was always meant to end after two seasons, some publishers, such as Slashfilm, have incorrectly reported that Netflix canceled the series. Variety recently reported that the eighteen episodes in the two seasons of Arcane cost Riot Games $250 million to produce and advertise, making it the most expensive animated series in history. Slashfilm leaned heavily on this report as a significant factor behind why Arcane ended after two seasons. However, the publication failed to cite anything related to Christian Linke’s quote about the franchise’s future.
Linke specifically said in a Dev Update on the League of Legends site, “From the very beginning, since we started working on this project, we had a very specific ending in mind, which means the story of Arcane wraps up with this second season. But Arcane is just the first of many stories that we want to tell in Runeterra.”
Sadly, many don’t understand the difference between a show ending and a show being canceled. There’s a huge difference between the two. Netflix’s reputation for canceling ‘popular’ originals after only one or two seasons on the service and the amount of clicks probably comes into part of this ignorance.
So no, Arcane was not and has never been ‘canceled’ by Netflix. The series is a prologue to even more stories from Riot Games in the world of League of Legends, and hopefully, we’ll continue to see them exclusively on Netflix.
While There Won’t Be A Season 3 – There’s More Story to Be Told
If we rewind back to when season 2 was set to be the last, Linke spoke about the future of the show beyond season 2, calling Arcane just the “beginning” and part of a “larger storytelling journey”.
While no spin-offs have been announced just yet, we suspect that may change in the months and years to come.
Have you been enjoying Arcane on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!
Netflix Synopsis: "Amid the stark discord of twin cities Piltover and Zaun, two sisters fight on rival sides of a war between magic technologies and clashing convictions."
