Arcane executive music producer Alex Seaver (Mako) takes us inside the epic soundtrack for season 2

Music is a huge part of Netflix's hit animated series Arcane. Based on the League of Legends video game from Riot and produced by Fortiche Productions, Arcane is a highly stylized series that wears its creative heart on its sleeve. The show has rightly gained a reputation for its breathtaking animation, as well as for its ambitious soundtrack of entirely original music. The show's first season featured 11 songs created just for the series, along with a sweeping score that brought the twin cities of Piltover and Zaun to vivid life. The music and sound editing were so well-received that it netted Arcane — and co-composer and songwriter Alex Seaver, who creates music under the moniker Mako — an Emmy nomination.

The scope has only expanded for Arcane's second season. Arcane is a story of two cities separated by a river and an oppressive class divide, where magic and technology fuse in ways that threaten to upend a society still grappling with its own inequalities. The music has many different facets of this story to display, from the shining halls of Piltover to the streampunk streets of Zaun, the eerie magic which sweeps over them both, and various themes for its huge ensemble cast. Along with his fellow co-composer Alexander Temple, Seaver had his work cut out for him.

Seaver's role expanded to match the growing scope of Arcane in its second season. This time around, he served not only as a co-composer and songwriter on the series, but as an executive music producer, overseeing the numerous pop songs which appear throughout the show. Arcane season 2 boasts more than 20 songs on its soundtrack, featuring artists like Linkin Park, Woodkid, Imagine Dragons, Freya Ridings, Sheryl Lee Ralph, d4vd, Djerv and more. Now that Arcane has ended its run with its explosive third act, we spoke with Seaver about what went into bringing the show's epic soundtrack to life, what it was like working with so many artists, his favorite moments from season 2, the secrets of Riot's success at creating this video game adaptation, and more.

You can watch the full interview with Alex Seaver below, or scroll on to read some highlights, edited for length and clarity:

DANIEL ROMAN for Winter Is Coming: You were working with Riot Games before Arcane, right? When did you start collaborating with them, and how did you react when you first found out they were making Arcane and wanted you to be a part of it?

ALEX SEAVER: So I think I started 2015. I did an EDM remix for them, which turned out to be a song called "Piercing Light", you can see like a Mako remix of it. Very EDM-y. Systematically over the years, I started writing a bunch of songs, did some Worlds anthems for them, we've done music videos together...I mean, as people have watched, Riot's really expanded in terms of their love of music.

And then, maybe 2018 or 19 Christian Linke, the showrunner for Arcane, pulled me into a room and said, 'watch this,' and it was like the whole pilot episode of Arcane, and my jaw dropped. I had no idea this thing was even getting made and I couldn't really make sense of it because it was so overwhelming in how well it was done. And so he asked me at the end like, 'hey, do you want to be a part of this?' And I was like, hell yeah, dude, let's do it, please.

WiC: That must have been so crazy. I can't imagine what that must have been like to not know Arcane existed before you walked into that room, because Riot had done small music videos and stuff, but they had never done something of that scale before.

AS: Never, never. And I think the other thing was, which we've all now come to love about it...video game adaptations weren't a thing that you thought of as like, this is gonna go well. And even from that first episode, I mean, obviously, I didn't understand the whole breadth of the emotions of the story at that point, but just like seeing the way it was paced and the way it looked of course, and the voice acting...I was like, oh, this is something that's in good hands and could be good. And that even by itself was kind of like a brand new sensation.

WiC: Were there any ways that working on season 2 was different for you from season 1?

AS: Yeah, the biggest is that Christian asked me to executive music produce the soundtrack for season 2. My first question to him was 'okay, cool...what does that mean?' Season 1 featured, I think 11 songs, and we really invented this crazy process of like film scoring our songs to picture and just like weaving it all together. But I was only paying attention to the songs that I wrote. And I probably did maybe half of them. Season 2, when he asked me to kind of executive music produce it. it's like, no, you're responsible for making sure all the songs turn out at the quality that we need. Even the ones that I'm not writing.

And that was a whole brand new thing because...I never aspired to be a leader of any kind and I don't have a ton of qualities that I think like a good leader would in my head. But the fun thing about it was that the reality was, I got to go work with some of the world's greatest artists, who are so damn good at what they do that all I had to do was just show them the story, tell them about it, and just lightly guide them through the process. And that was such a rewarding experience for me. It's also opened up a lot of personal doors in terms of like, what I even think about my role in things could be in the future, just because I loved it so much. And I see why Christian digs it too, because he started on the music staff at Riot and now, you know, showruns Arcane, and I think he went through a transformation of his own to get there. But that was the big difference for me, was actually taking responsibility for the whole soundtrack and I loved every second of it.

WiC: I saw some older interviews with you from season 1 where you talked about working with Sting and what a surreal thing that was. Were there any moments or artists similar to that in season 2?

AS: I mean, it's a good thing to still feel that way because the worst thing you ever want to feel is, like, used to that kind of stuff. I never got used to it. And then I think it also seeped into areas where it's like...Sting is just an artist that the world knows, and it was surreal because it was like, you know, I don't know, working with a Beatle or something like that. I had a lot of moments in season 2 where there were artists that personally mean a lot to me. Like Stromae, is an artist that meant so much to me, and also an artist who's very mysterious and I was so blown away that he was open to work on the project, and then working with them was so great. Freya Ridings, the song in Episode 1, she's an artist that I personally pitched to the team because I just loved her music so much. And then bringing Woodkid back and being able to make music with him. I mean, season 1 we emailed files to each other. Season 2 we were jamming in Paris, we're making music here in my studio. Like, that was surreal. There's just a lot of different moments from the season that I still was like, I can't believe we're doing this right now.

WiC: One song in particular I have to ask you about is "Heavy Is The Crown," because not only was that one of the first songs revealed from the Arcane season 2 soundtrack, it was also one of the first songs to be put out by Linkin Park since they got their new singer Emily Armstrong. And obviously, fans have been waiting to see what they would do next for a really long time. What was that like, being a part of that next chapter for Linkin Park, and incorporating that song into the show? And how did you navigate the different versions of that song, because I noticed the music video has different production credits?

AS: I mean, talk about a surreal moment, that's a pretty surreal moment, is when Mike Shinoda has you over to his place and says, 'okay I'm rebooting Linkin Park, here's the first couple of songs,' and you're sitting in his room like, holy shit I can't believe this is happening.

Mike rules, first off. I met him at the first season premiere. He's been known to League audiences, I mean he's a gamer, he's been in the community for a long time, and he was a day one Arcane fan. And so we met him at the premiere and he was like, would love to do stuff with you guys and we were just like, of course, we would love that. So...we started working with him super quickly.

We did an Arcane version of the song and then he's got a Linkin Park version of the song, and he's deeply involved in all of it, obviously. But the cool thing about him and many of the artists is that they were very gracious with allowing us to use some of this material in the way that the show needs. Like, Linkin Park's "Heavy Is The Crown" is a start to finish banger, like it just goes. And the scene that we needed "Heavy Is The Crown" for in Episode 1...it has a big moment at the end, but it's very cinematic, and it's moody. And one thing that was really important to Christian is that...it can't feel cool, it needs to feel scary. Because Caitlyn's arc gets really twisted in this season, and so this song had to tee up that feeling. And so just working with Mike on that one was so much fun, and then seeing how it all came together, and Emily's voice is insane. The whole thing was just such a beautiful collaboration.

WiC: Music is such an integral part of this show. There are music videos in every episode, but then there's also traditional scoring throughout a lot of it, too. How do you and the rest of the team decide which parts of the show get the music video treatment and which parts get the more traditional scoring?

AS: First off, I just want to shout out Alex Temple, who's like lead composer on Arcane, he's our quarterback for all things score. He's my favorite composer alive, I just adore his work and being able to work with him. Because I helped out on the score as well — most of season 2 for me was the songs — but I was doing a bunch of scenes with Alex as well. But just hearing his music week in and week out was so insane. It's gonna be one of the things that I'll miss the most about not having Arcane anymore.

But from the very beginning, usually from Fortiche and Christian — Fortiche is the animation studio in Paris — they make those decisions kind of at the beginning. We'll have some moments where we tinker and we think one thing is a song but it ends up not being, and other things where we're like, maybe this could be a song...but for the most part, it comes at me and Alex already pre-mapped out. Because as you notice in season 2, one of the songs per episode is kind of like a crazy pop out of a new animation style. They move into different mediums for some of these song moments, which that takes a ton of planning on their part so they really make sure that they know when they want to do those. I think often times they occur right after the opening credits. Stuff like that is pre-planned. And then we sort of immediately dive into conversations with them about, what do you want to do with these music beats that you've laid out for us?

WiC: Were there any characters you were particularly excited to write for this season?

AS: Season 1, I was so obsessed with Jinx and Vi's story and like Powder and their relationship...that occupied so much of my emotional capacity, because I wrote a lot of songs through their perspective. And then season 2, I was like, ready to go telling those stories, and all of a sudden Caitlyn comes through and just wallops me. I liked Caitlyn, but I didn't love her in season 1, just personally. I didn't actually end up writing a ton of her music because Alex Temple would handle a lot of the Piltover-based stuff. So I was just like, oh I like her. And then season 2 begins and I'm like, oh, she's like the new muse. She goes through such a complicated, interesting arc and I got to write a lot of Caitlyn songs this season. She was my stand out, I had the most fun...it's almost like an actress, like "I had the most fun working with Caitlyn," like she's a real person. [Laughs] But that was a really special, new experience for me, was diving into her kind of experience.

WiC: Was there anything in the show that really hit you, as a fan of League of Legends, where it was like, 'I can't believe I'm watching this in a television show, this thing that I've enjoyed in the game for so long?'

AS: Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like seeing how these champions came to be is the thing that's pretty crazy. Like that's the fun part. So I don't take any ownership over this statement, but to me it seems like we're telling prequel stories for a lot of these champions, it's like how they become the champions that you know in the game. I have no idea if that's accurate, but it's just the way I sort of have felt about it. And seeing how they're telling these stories, when Vi starts off as like, you know, a girl from Zaun that hates Piltover, and hates the Enforcers, and seeing how she becomes the champion that you know in the game is just really cool.

I mean, talk about arcs, Viktor is one of my all time favorites in season 2. His story is so unbelievable. That's probably the most delicious one to see the Viktor I know from the game, and the one that I've seen, you know, get there.

WiC: Were there any parts or scenes that you were especially excited to write for this season, or that really hit you when you wrote for them?

AS: The one I've been dying to talk about is Heimerdinger's song in Episode 7, is one of my all time favorite moments from both seasons. I got to work with our voice actor, Mick Wingert, that plays Heimerdinger, and we wrote this really just heartfelt, beautiful but happy song for a very crazy episode. And we've never done that. We never had a character sing a song on screen. We localize the show in 25 languages, and so we translated and recorded 25 different languages for this song. So every single region is gonna hear Heimerdinger singing in their language. It's unbelievable the scope of this thing, it's so cool. This is one of the coolest projects we were working on. And Mick is like the most beautiful spirit, he's such a cool guy. He has a wonderful voice, and that one is just like a hard left turn on the rest of the soundtrack that I'm really excited for.

WiC: I read an interview recently with Christian Linke, where he said that Arcane was almost like a proof of concept for the idea of being able to do more shows set in the League of Legends universe. So I'm curious, since you've played the game, are there any other regions or champions you personally would be excited to create music for in another show?

AS: That's a good question. I mean, like, this is just me personally speaking...I love Bilgewater. I just feel like that's a dope region, but like it would be cool. I love the Freljord. I mean, I love so much of this stuff. There's some that I didn't know quite as well, for example we had to write a Shuriman chant, like from Shurima, in Episode 3. I worked with the lore team to invent a language, and I was just kind of diving into what that region was a little bit more and I was super interested in all that stuff.

But yeah, to Christian's point, I think the world of Runeterra is so rich for the storytelling. All it takes is a couple of people like our writing team for Arcane to just keep filling in these other stories with movies and television shows. I don't know what they're working on, but I know everybody's really excited to see what they do next.

WiC: I almost feel like Riot is a little underrated for just how good they've been at branching into different mediums with the League world. Because Arcane is incredible. They've made books; I know they've got one coming out about Ambessa next year. The music albums like you mentioned, Warsongs; they had the Pentakill metal albums which are just bangers. What do you think has been the secret to that success, that they've been able to go into all these different mediums and still appeal to people who maybe don't even know the game?

AS: Yeah, I mean...I guess I've been [with Riot] like nine years or so. The thing that I love and the reason I keep coming back is that it's a group of people that are obsessed with doing something to the best of their ability. We're all super fans of the things that we love in the same way that like, you know, the League audiences [are]. And so we wanna make things that are as dope as the things we love. And that's phase one, which is we take a long time because we wanna get things right, and we don't put things out if it's undercooked.

And then the second thing is Riot is willing to take crazy swings and crazy risks, and they have a big ethos of not doing, you know, cut rate versions of what other things are. Like, it's not about making a junior version of, I don't know, XYZ big movie or big game or whatever. They want to make it their own way...I mean, Arcane is such a huge risk. And yeah, it's everything they do. When I first saw K/DA, the K-pop project that was like a virtual band, I was like, man, this is a huge swing...and it's done so well that you're just like, 'yup, I love this now.' And I just think those two qualities are kind of what makes them special and it's the reason I love working for them so much, is that I love making stuff like that.

WiC: Bringing it back to the music, I don't know which Alex was responsible for this, but I noticed that you guys snuck in the original "Get Jinxed" champion reveal music when Sevika is trying out her new mechanical arm in the second episode. But, correct me if I'm wrong here, it sounds like the melody is slightly different. Can you talk a little about revisiting that? Did you actually get the singer back to re-record, or is that all remix magic?

AS: So that is Sebastien Najand, who's also one of the core composers and producers at Riot. And me and Sebastian have done so much music together. We did, "RISE" and "Legends Never Die," we recently did "Gods." And he did a ton of songs on both seasons of Arcane, some with me as well. He did that cue and he also produced that song. It's happening during this epic fight sequence where the song "Renegade" plays. And so Fortiche had that crazy idea where Jinx builds this arm that's like a slot machine. And the whole idea was, if Jinx is making this arm for Sevika, she's fucking with Sevika. She's gonna throw little things in there that are just annoying, because she's annoying and she loves to annoy Sevika. And so I think that train of thought led us to like, let's actually think about what song Jinx would put in there: her own theme song. Like, why not, of course she would do that.

And so the original artist for that song is called Djerv, they're from Norway. And so we brought Djerv back to do their own song on season 2 of Arcane, it's a song "Rebel Heart" in Episode 4. But Seb took the old files from "Get Jinxed," this original song, and remixed them. You're right, he altered some melodies, like he was playing with it. That sequence took a really long time to get right because the visuals didn't make a ton of sense to us when they were in their pre-viz form. There's so much happening on screen that it was a little tough to tell exactly how the scene would be legible until we got near the final animatics of it. And I think at that point, Seb dialed in. We tried a bunch of different kinds of pieces of music, but Seb really worked hard on that one. And then, you know, it's like breaking up his banger of a song, so it's like interrupting his own song before it gets back to his song. That was one of the most complicated sequences musically this season.

WiC: One thing that I really loved about the soundtrack just in general, but especially for this season because you have so many more songs, is that they are all original. You guys could have taken the route of licensing songs and didn't. Can you talk a little bit about the thought process for deciding to do that rather than going with pre-existing songs?

AS: So that's all Christian and Fortiche, they love music. Christian is allergic to hearing, you know, Marvel movies where an AC/DC song gets synced for the millionth time. That's his big pet peeve, is like, there are so many talented musicians and writers, why are we not making new things? He wants to tell a new story with Arcane and he wants to tell new stories with the soundtrack. And thank god, because it's the most rewarding experience making this stuff and all the artists we work with are dying to do it. I would do 10 more seasons of this. Like, we're just starving to do these things, to dig deep and make the songwriting as deep as the storytelling is. There's so many of us out there that want to do this, and there's just not a lot of properties and opportunities to do it.

And so I think all the kudos in the world to Fortiche and Christian for taking a chance. I mean, when they're working on Arcane, which it's been publicized, like how much the budget is and all this stuff is crazy, the stakes are so high...they still will be like, we're gonna reserve this three-and-a-half minute segment and this two minute segment in our episode for a song to fill it. We don't know what the song is, but we trust our team to get it. Like that's an insane responsibility. But it's also such an honor that they think that we'll be able to rise to the occasion and make something special. And I think the reason that they trust us is because our teams work so well together. Everybody's really fighting together for the cause, which is tell this story as good as possible. And then all you gotta do is just look at the paintings that Fortiche is sending you and be like, yeah, this is gonna be easy to make music over this. Their images make all of our music sound better.

WiC: Now that the show is finished, what are the chances that we'll get an Arcane live music concert tour?

AS: That is a good question. Nobody's asked that. I don't know, and I want one! I want to do one. Riot Games used to do these more often, at their Worlds events, they would do like a night before Worlds, a whole orchestral medley concert that would be all the champion themes that they had made. I mean, this is years ago, so we didn't have that many songs back then. They're a ton of work to put together, but they're really cool and we should do it. I will send your question along. I am not the one that has the power to do these things, but I think it would be really special to, and I think people would really enjoy it.

WiC: Last question: what's next for you, and where can people find your music?

AS: All my handles are @itsmako. I'm working on a new Netflix show, I can't announce it yet but it'll come out next year. To be honest, I'm like...kind of unemployed for a second. I finished all my big projects. I have some smaller ones that I'm working on like individual songs, and I'm working on a couple of artist's albums...but I'm kind of taking a quick chill pill, and then I'm going to see what's next. I want Arcane kind of things in my life, because I love it. So I think part of it is just finding out what else is out there while I wait for Christian to get off his ass and finish whatever he's working on next. [Laughs}

A huge thank you to Alex Seaver aka Mako for stopping by to talk all about Arcane. If you enjoyed this interview, you can watch the full version on our YouTube channel.

All 9 episodes of Arcane season 2 are currently available on Netflix. The first season is also available on Blu-Ray. Netflix rarely releases physical editions of its series, but for a show like Arcane, there's no doubt it's warranted. On the book front, the next Arcane-related project coming down the pike is Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf, a tie-in novel by Magic of the Lost author C.L. Clark that explores the backstory for the fearsome Noxian warlord Ambessa Merdada. The book hits shelves in early 2025. And if you're an audiobook listener, you may even hear a familiar voice narrating it:

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.