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Will Netflix's Arcane season 2 be the last League of Legends show? A new insight into Riot Games could have answers

Maybe you're already guessing - 'Yes, because Arcane got too expensive for Riot Games?' That's true, but you might not be able to guess just *how* expensive Netflix's League of Legends adaptation was

News by Grant DeArmitt, Staff Writer

Published on Wed Nov 06 2024

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This week's debut of Netflix's Arcane season 2 has to be bittersweet for its fans. Yes, it's the next chapter in one of the most popular animated series in years, plus more from the universe of League of Legends. But, it's also the last chapter we're going to get of the groundbreaking fantasy series. And not to pile on the "bitter" side of the equation, but a Variety report released November 6 reveals that there were actually intended to be a full "slate of live-action and animated TV and films based on Riot intellectual property. At least, that was the plan that Riot Games, League of Legends' owner, had for the series.

We're going to get into what happened to that plan here.

What happened to League of Legends' other shows?

As you may have already heard if you're a League of Legends fan, the Arcane production was big enough to be worthy of its epic fantasy status and more. A Twitter/X post from Riot Games's former CEO Nicolo Laurent made mention of the fact that the first season took six years (!) to make. But what ultimately hindered the much larger plans Riot Games once held for Arcane wasn't time, it was money. According to Variety, Arcane's first and second seasons incurred a staggering $250 million tab.

Why was Netflix's Arcane so expensive?

According to Variety's reporting, much of Arcane's spending came down to "the company's inexperience navigating the intricacies of entertainment production." The show cost a staggering $80M for just its first season, with some of that money chalked up to delays in scripts and a whopping $60M of it going into promotion - that $60M coming from Riot Games's own pocketbook

Will there be more League of Legends shows after Arcane?

Despite the money spent and the plans stunted, Riot Games co-founder and chief product officer Marc Merrill remains hopeful about more League of Legends content coming to streaming. "We’re more than comfortable with the spend it took to deliver a show that was worthy of our players’ time," Merrill said of the spending it took to get Arcane onto Netflix. The CPO also stated, "Our ambitions in entertainment haven’t changed."

What does seemingly need to change, however, is the spending involved in making shows like Arcane. As huge a property as League of Legends is, there's only so much that a studio can put into a single project before its finance people start sounding the alarm. Even the best-intentioned, ambitious TV plans can't change that.

Arcane season one is streaming on Netflix now. Season 2 debuts November 9.

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Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. As Popverse's Staff Writer, he criss-crosses the pop culture landscape bringing you the news and opinions about the big things (and the next big things). In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.