In just a few weeks, Netflix will drop new episodes of Arcane, its Emmy-winning animated series based on the League of Legends video game. The first season of Arcane released back in 2021 and made waves thanks to its well-developed characters, striking visual style, great soundtrack, and moving story about two sisters who found themselves on opposite sides of a class war between the aristocratic upper city of Piltover and the oppressed slums of Zaun. The first season pulled no punches, killing off a few important characters along the way and ending on a cliffhanger that may have spelled the end for even more after Jinx (Ella Purnell) fired a rocket directly into a room where Piltover's most powerful diplomats were debating the city's future.
The upcoming second season of Arcane will be its last; while other League of Legends shows will no doubt crop up thanks to Arcane's success, Riot Games and Fortische Animation are ending the story of Jinx and Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) strong the way they intended. Needless to say, the stakes are extremely high, both for the sisters at the heart of the story as well as for everyone else involved in the battle between Zaun and Piltover. And according to showrunner and co-creator Christian Linke, that may well mean that not every main character we've grown to love will make it out of the conflict alive.
This comes from Black Girl Nerds, who spoke to Linke over on their podcast, per Games Radar+. They were particularly curious about whether this final season may hold "tragic ends" for some of the characters, even speculating that we may see ourselves in a "Game of Thrones situation," since that show as famous for killing off numerous characters. "Yes, that is indeed possible," Linke replied.
"I don’t want to say too much about it," he added. "I mean, that’s the point. We definitely always wanted our world and stories to feel like they have consequences, and death is the most severe consequence. Yeah, that’s part of our storytelling."
Arcane season 2 will feature a sprawling cast of characters that will include some well-known heroes from the video game. In addition to Vi and Jinx, we'll also see Ekko (Reed Shannon), Caitlyn (Katie Leung), Heimerdinger (Mick Wingert), Singed (Brett Tucker) and Ambessa Medarda (Ellen Thomas) in season 2. There's very much a feeling that no one's safe, even well-established champions steeped in League of Legends lore. We still don't know the fate of Jayce (Kevin Alejandro) from season 1, either.
If Arcane's first heart-pounding season is any indicator, I'd say to gird your loins and get ready for some emotional damage in Arcane season 2. The season will premiere on Netflix in three "Acts," of three episodes apiece. Act one drops on November 9, act two on November 16, and act three on November 23.
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