Video game developer Riot Games discussed the possibility of bringing League of Legends into live-action.
"Riot will eventually dabble in live-action, film and interactive content," Riot Global President of Entertainment Shauna Spenley told Deadline, celebrating the developer's venture into film and television with Arcane, the highly anticipated animated adaptation of League of Legends. "Arcane may be Riot’s first major step into entertainment, but the gaming company is just testing the waters of TV and film content for now."
Riot partnered with Netflix to release Arcane, with the developer's creative director Chrisitan Linke touching on how the series was a homage to the League of Legends franchise and everything involved in the world of animation. To Linke, adapting aspects of the video game such as its world, lore and characters into film and television offers Riot a chance to voice League in ways that the company has never done before. "[Arcane] lets us explore things and sides from our characters we’ve never gotten to," he said. "There’s these questions of where do they sleep? What do they eat? It’s all those little things that I think make a human, human."
Spenley noted that at the core of adapting League into film and television lies the need to honor the video game's community. "The whole strategy for Arcane specifically is [to] celebrate, [to] give our players more to love," she explained, adding that Riot is looking to create "a more immersive Runeterra and a more expansive League of Legends."
Given the success of Arcane's Season 1 and a Season 2 renewal by Netflix, the horizon looks bright for a possible live-action adaptation of League. Arcane already boasts some of the biggest names in Hollywood, such as Hailee Steinfeld, who voices Jinx's sister Vi, one of the show's main protagonists.
Although Spenley did not give a definite date for when a live-action adaptation would take place, fans are optimistic that Arcane's success will spur Riot to set things in motion. The developer has no current plans to introduce a full business unit that will cater to film and television but Spenley stated that Riot is set on the "constant sense of reinvention" that is the foundation of the company.
The first season of Riot's Arcane is streaming on Netflix. The release date for Season 2 has yet to be announced.
Source: Deadline