The steampunk animated series Arcane has been a big success story for Netflix. Set in the world of the hugely popular video game League of Legends, the series follows two sisters embroiled in a war between two cities — one wealthy and utopian, while the other is oppressed and poor.
Within a week of the first season’s release in November 2021, it had toppled the mighty Squid Game to sit as the most in-demand series on the streamer worldwide. But, in June of this year, Netflix announced that the second season —airing on the platform now — will mark the end of the show.
According to a November 2024 report in Variety, Arcane was initially planned and budgeted to run for five seasons. So something must have changed in order for Riot Games and Netflix to bring the hammer down on one of the streamer’s most popular shows after just two seasons.
As is so often the case with stories like this, it appears that money was a huge factor. The Variety report suggests that Arcane’s 18 episodes across two seasons cost $250m (£194m) to create and promote, making it comfortably the most expensive animated TV show ever made.
Variety wrote: “What drove the cost far beyond typical animation expenses, insiders say, were both a labour-intensive approach and frequent cost overruns triggered by delayed script deliveries after the second season was put into production with only a fraction of the season written.”
Read more: ‘Arcane’ Season 2 Gets Totally Bonkers — Kicking Off with an Eye-Popping Funeral Scene (IndieWire, 5 min read)
For Riot’s part, co-founder and chief product officer Marc Merrill told Variety that “our ambitions in entertainment haven’t changed”. He added: “We’re more than comfortable with the spend it took to deliver a show that was worthy of our players’ time.”
Arcane is certainly an ambitious and remarkable show, with its visuals taking centre stage in creating something truly special. In our own take on the show, we wrote: “Arcane is a visual feast because of Fortiche’s unique animation style, which is full of colour and detail — it’s almost like watching a painting come to life, the show is that gorgeous.”
Read more: Arcane star teases “devastating” season 2 finale as she admits it made her cry during filming (Total Film, 1 min read)
Unfortunately, it seems as if the price tag of that uniquely intricate animation may have proved too rich for all involved. The show’s creators, however, have suggested that there was a simpler reason for bringing Arcane to an end so soon. Christian Linke, co-creator, told the BBC: “We’ve all watched TV shows that didn’t really know when to stop. We don’t want to be one of those.”
“We want to just tell a very specific story where we have a very tailored ending in mind,” he added. “This is just what we built from the beginning, and so we have to kind of follow our gut on this and tell the story that it was supposed to be.”
In a separate interview with Variety, Linke described the finale of Arcane as “just the beginning of our larger storytelling journey and partnership with the wonderful animation studio that is Fortiche”. He said this is “just the first of many stories that we want to tell in Runeterra”.
Read more: Arcane season 2 confirms the hit series isn’t just one of the best Netflix shows ever made – it’s an animated legend that’ll stand the test of time (TechRadar, 11 min read)
So Arcane fans might have something to comfort them when the credits roll on the final episode of the series. It seems as if Linke and the team will continue to work with Fortiche to tell amazing stories set within the League of Legends world. But for now, a glorious chapter has ended.
Arcane season 2 is airing throughout November on Netflix, with the finale due to arrive on 23 November.
