When the animated Netflix show Arcane debuted in late 2021 to widespread critical acclaim, the League of Legends spinoff garnered the love of fans from around the world as well as a likelihood that it would be renewed for future seasons. Even with Netflix's recent woes, this show's long-term survival is all but guaranteed.
However, just as Netflix is developing a live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender TV show, it could also possibly decide to go the same route with Arcane. If that happens, these actors are the best choices to play the main characters.
Vi - Hailee Steinfeld
In Arcane, Vi is the co-leading star alongside her sister, Jinx, but because the two were separated after a failed heist, Vi is eventually sent to prison. She comes out of it an obviously changed, hardened character. The role would require a star adept at both action and hard-hitting drama.
That's what makes Hailee Steinfeld, the animated version's voice actress, a perfect choice for the role. She's proven for more than a decade that she can handle action-dramas, from True Grit to Hawkeye, as well as dramatic roles in shows like Dickinson. It adds continuity, and means that an actor already familiar with the material would be the lead.
Powder / Jinx - Elle Fanning
Powder has a tragic backstory alongside Vi, with the two of them having lost their parents at a young age and having to deal with trauma at a young age. Powder has the added complication, though, of clearly suffering from some kind of mental illness. TV characters like Powder can accurately portray mental illness, but it requires a nuanced touch.
Elle Fanning has more than proven she has the chops to tackle the magic and the complicated mental life of a character like Powder. The underappreciated movie The Neon Demon shows the actress's ability to portray a mentally complex character in a psychological thriller. Fanning's acting range extends far beyond that, however, meaning she could also capture the charming aspects of Powder's personality, too.
Jayce Talis - Asa Butterfield
Jayce is a brilliant scientific mind whose experiments with magic are what create the crystals which Vi and Powder attempt to heist in the first episode. By the end of season one, his endeavors have earned him a seat on the Piltover Council and show that Jayce is one of Arcane's best inventors.
A brilliant mind basically necessitates a British actor, and based on Jayce's age as well as the need to portray his intelligence, Asa Butterfield would be a great choice. Butterfield has portrayed extraordinary intelligence in Ender's Game and the less well-known X+Y film; even in Sex Education he plays an intelligent if sometimes emotionally immature character.
Caitlyn Kiramman - Jessica Henwick
Although Caitlyn is part of a powerful political family, she chooses to instead become an enforcer to prove herself outside of her family's status and influence. In that role, she becomes a dogged investigator who won't be persuaded by anyone in power to stop her search.
Who better to portray a fierce character than Jessica Henwick, whose Colleen Wing in Iron Fist and The Defenders is able to hold her own against ninjas? Henwick's action experience in those and The Matrix Resurrections mean she's already used to portraying a fierce character, and her casting would fit perfectly with the character as voiced by Katie Leung.
Silco - Benedict Cumberbatch
When it comes to ambition, no character in the world is more covetous of it, and cunning enough to get it at any costs, than Silco. Once friends with the Vander, Silco went down a darker path after their friendship ended, slowly building a following of loyal criminals.
Although Star Trek Into Darkness is far from perfect, it gives viewers one of Benedict Cumberbatch's best movie roles in Khan. Regardless of the controversy around casting, Cumberbatch's portrayal of the villain is absolutely chilling in every scene he's in, and provides a genuinely compelling threat because he is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his aims. It's just what a Silco portrayer would need.
Viktor - Finn Wolfhard
Heimerdinger's assistant, Viktor becomes an integral part of Jayce's research after he offers to help revive his work. Eventually, he proves to in some ways be even more adept than Jayce is, as Viktor's disadvantageous beginnings have made it necessary for him to be more pensive and patient.
Since Viktor would need to be younger than Jayce, it's necessary to cast younger than Asa Butterfield, and Finn Wolfhard fits the bill. He's played intelligent characters before, like in Stranger Things and Carmen Sandiego, but is far from typecast in that role, with It and The Goldfinch examples of the actor's range that makes him a great fit for the role.
Mel Medarda - Danai Gurira
Mel Medarda is another Pitover councilor, one who comes from the nobility and has the resources to support Jayce's work in secret after she takes an interest in it. Mel also has some of Arcane's best outfits in the first season, with her costuming befitting her noble rank.
Between the costuming and the regal air about her, there are few choices better than Danai Gurira. Some of Mel's outfits look like they could belong to Okoye from Black Panther, and few characters in that film command more respect in a room than her. It may be less physical than her typical roles, but Gurira figuratively has her own throne; Arcane would just be borrowing it.
Vander - Hugh Jackman
It's Vander who takes Vi and Powder in after their parents are killed, and while he does his best to take care of them, it's also clear that he's willing to go to extreme measures to protect the underprivileged that he views as being left behind by Pitover.
Perhaps it's his Hugh Jackman's in Logan that makes him seem like he'd be a perfect fit as a combined caretaker and freedom fighter; he's been mentioned in several online postings about ideal fan castings, and it's hard not to agree with them. Jackman also isn't that much older than Cumberbatch, meaning that they could fit as former friends, which is a core part of their collective backstory.
Ekko - Caleb McLaughlin
Another person who grew up in the lower-class city of Zaun, Ekko finds himself as a leader in the resistance to Silco while not even an adult yet, but, as in real life, youth doesn't necessarily prevent someone from taking action against injustice.
Like Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin proved himself as an actor on Stranger Things, a show where the child actors are most of the main cast. While he's already 20 years old in real life, McLaughlin can still convincingly play a teenager, so in fact he could possibly play a younger version of the character, as well, provided the age gap isn't too large in the live-action show's story.
Cecil B. Heimerdinger - Ian McKellen
A well-respected scientist and professor, Heimerdinger is the Vander figure to Jayce, a mentor who teaches and encourages him in his pursuits. With more than three centuries of wisdom under his belt, this furry creature has an air of both authority (as one of Pitover's founders) and wisdom.
Ian McKellen has spent decades honing the skills to portray a character like Heimerdinger, and has done so several times, from Lord of the Rings' Gandalf to X-Men's Magneto, and was even offered the role of Harry Potter's Dumbledore. As it would probably be mostly voice acting, McKellen wouldn't even need to travel to be involved with filming, but could still use that iconic voice to bring Heimerdinger to life.