Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent confirmed the highly anticipated Season 2 of the animated League of Legends spinoff series Arcane will not premiere in 2023.
As reported by Win.gg, Laurent discussed the ongoing production of Arcane Season 2 in a video published on the popular Shanghai-based video-sharing website, Bilibili. "I just watched the third episode of Season 2, before my flight to China," he said. "We're making progress on it. It's not ready yet. There are two reasons for that, you want the quality, we just don't want to rush, and so that takes time, and that's a good reason."
He further revealed development on the show was lengthened because the studio had initially taken a cautious approach to Arcane, with Laurent stating that the creative team didn't know the series would become such a massive success before its 2021 premiere. "The bad reason is that, honestly, we didn't know if Season 1 was going to be a success," he continued. "So, we didn't start Season 2 until after. We didn't know. And so if I'd known [Arcane was going to be successful], we could have started Season 2 way earlier, but we didn't know so we kind of waited a bit and so now we're paying the price."
The World of Arcane
Arcane is an animated steampunk series based on Riot Games' massively popular multiplayer online battle arena video game, League of Legends. The story is set in the futuristic city of Piltover and centers on the journey of two iconic champions from the source material, sisters Vi and Jinx. Arcane received overwhelmingly positive reviews at the time of its release, with critics praising its engaging narrative, intricate world-building and unique blend of fantasy and sci-fi elements. The show also received multiple awards in numerous categories, such as Best Adaptation at The Game Awards 2022 and Outstanding Animated Program from the 74th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
The overwhelming success of Arcane additionally fueled rumors which claimed Riot Games was attempting to capitalize on the series' success with additional films and television shows based on the League of Legends universe. Adding to the community's speculation, Riot previously posted job listings that advertised openings for the positions of Global Head of Live-Action Film and Global Head of Live-Action TV, leading some to believe the developer was laying the groundwork for a Marvel-style live-action cinematic universe. At the time of writing, Riot has yet to confirm the reports.
Arcane is available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Win.gg