Like many modern masterpieces of animation, the League of Legends Netflix adaptation Arcane took a very long break in between seasons. We have seen this before, such as with the Spider-Verse trilogy having five years between the first and second movie – and another long wait until the third.
Recently, there have been disruptions in the media industry, including the writers strikes and the pandemic. These caused many shows and films to have to extend their release dates, inadvertently easing fans into the long waiting period between content.
Arcane’s three-year wait is nothing compared to some other franchises, yet it left fans chomping at the bit for more content. Season one attracted high praise in general, with a focus on the animation and art style.
Why did Arcane Season 2 take so long?
With season two consisting of nine episodes, it’s interesting to see where the time went between seasons. Firstly, it took co-creator Alex Yee roughly 27 hoursto nail down the final line for the show. Season two marks the end of Arcane, so deciding what note it’ll end on is an extremely daunting task – especially for a show so loved.
Secondly, to give you an idea of just how much work goes into the show, it reportedly cost around $250m to create and advertise. That’s a huge chunk of cash for an 18-episode show.
Most obviously, the animation had a big part to play in the release schedule gap. Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent explained that they wanted “quality” which can’t be rushed. This makes sense as Arcane gripped viewers from the first few seconds with its nuanced and fleshed out storylines, characters, and animation.
Laurent also said that they didn’t start season two until much later due to not knowing if season one would be a success. Well, luckily for us it was received with love and season two began production.
Consequently, these reasons combined made for such a long wait between seasons. However, season one took six years to produce (due to a two-year hiatus), so fans can be thankful that the wait time has been slashed in half.
Amazingly, even with a shortened wait time, the Arcane team have managed to up the animation to a whole new level. It was already breathtaking in season one, but in season two almost every frame could be its own piece of art. Emotions are more expressed, fights are more fluid, and the special effects are ripped from the mind of a comic creator.
All episodes of Arcane are now streaming on Netflix.
Featured Image Credit: Arcane / Netflix
Fourth year student journalist studying Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Journalism Studies.
Words at Brig, The Daily Evergreen, Alloa Advertiser, Discovery Music Scotland, and The Mourning Paper.
