After its quick renewal in November 2021, Arcane season 2 gets a clarifying update. Set in the League of Legends fictional universe of Riot Games, Arcane is a Netflix animated series that took several years to reach audiences. The series focuses on two sisters, Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell), who find themselves on opposite sides of a brewing conflict between rich Piltover and its poor undercity Zaun. It became the first streaming show to win in the Outstanding Animated Program category at the Emmys and was also hailed as one of the best shows of the year.
Based on the latest update about Arcane season 2 from Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent, it sounds like there's going to be a bit of a long wait for the next chapter in the story. In an interview with Bilibilii, Laurent addressed the progress of the hit animated series. Laurent says that, in keeping the quality of the adaptation high, there's a need to take time. The CEO also candidly explains how there wasn't an expectation that Arcane season 1 would become such a success, and how that factors into the delay. Laurent's quote, via WIN.gg, is below:
I just watched the third episode of Season 2, before my flight to China. 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. The bad reason is that, honestly, we didn’t know if Season 1 was going to be a success. 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.
What To Expect From Arcane Season 2
Arcane season 1 ended with an important confrontation that involved Jinx, Vi, Caitlyn (Katie Leung), and Silco (Jason Spisak). In the chaos that would follow, Silco died. Grief-stricken, Jinx fired at the council building just as they were voting for Zaun's independence. The finale ended right before the missile landed, and the fallout will likely be a big focus of Arcane season 2 when it does return.
The adaptation was not only elevated by its remarkable visuals and gripping plot, but the voice cast of Arcane also added much to the story's depth with their performances. In addition to Steinfeld, Purnell, Leung, and Spisak, the ensemble also included several main and supporting players that could step into the spotlight with a second installment.
The reach of the series was vast, with the Arcane praise even echoed by Henry Cavill. It set the record, at the time of its debut, as Netflix's highest-rated show within a week of its premiere. Given the accolades from both professional critics and general audiences, it's understandable and even preferred that there isn't a rush to get new episodes out.