Image: Riot Games
Sadly, it looks like fans will have to wait two long years for Arcane Season 2.
Riot Games’ CEO Nocolo Laurent has confirmed that Season 2 of Netflix’s animated League of Legends adaptation Arcane will not be released in 2023. Laurent talked about the future of Arcane during an interview with LPL caster Guan Ze Yuan, where he revealed the unfortunate news.
Laurent confirmed that the series is currently deep in development, but nowhere near the finish line yet. Laurent has also seen quite a bit of Season 2 too, saying, “I just watched the third episode of Season 2 before my flight, so we are making progress on it.” Due to the high bar of quality they’re trying to meet however, Season 2 won’t be finished in time for a release this year.
On the delay, Laurent said:
It is not ready yet, and there are two reasons for that. One, you want the quality and you just don’t want to rush so that takes time and it’s a good reason. The bad reason is, honestly, we didn’t know whether Season 1 was going to be a success so we didn’t start Season 2 until it happened. If I had known, we could’ve started Season 2 way earlier, but we didn’t know and we are paying the price. It’s unfortunately not going to be this year.
Arcane was almost immediately renewed for a second season in 2021, after which Riot strengthened its relationship with the series’ animation studio Fortiche Production by making a new equity investment. Under the terms of that investment, Riot now holds a significant non-controlling stake in the studio, and members of the company are on Fortiche’s board of directors.
Riot likely has a lot more say on the production of Season 2 at this point, and wants to take its time to ensure it lives up to the series' critically-acclaimed first run. Laurent had previously confirmed that Arcane’s second season will come out faster than its first - but it wouldn’t hit Netflix anytime in 2022. Fans might have expected a release in 2023 instead, but it looks like they’ll have to wait two long years in between seasons at minimum.
Long release gaps like these aren't uncommon in this age of television blockbusters. While Fortiche is likely taking its time to ensure that Season 2 has the same level of cinematic animation as Season 1, other TV shows have to deal with cast scheduling, long months of shooting and heavy VFX work before churning out new episodes. HBO's The Last of Us is another gaming adaptation that will likely take two years at minimum to produce another season, despite being placed on the fast track.