Arcane, the hit animated adaptation of League of Legends that was released on Netflix in 2020, is awaiting its next installment. Here’s everything we know for certain about Arcane season 2, and even seasons past that.
Arcane’s first season revolved around the twin cities of Piltover and Zaun, and the champions who inhabit them. This first season of Arcane focused on Vi, Jinx, Caitlyn, Jayce, Heimerdinger, Singed, Ekko, Viktor, and Warwick.
Arcane season two will follow up on the same storyline and region as the first season and the same characters. After Jinx’s attack on the Piltover council at the end of the first season, season two will be dealing with the fallout from her attack and continuing Vi’s pursuit of her sister. This season will likely move the world forwards to a place where League of Legends fans see the fully grown and current-day version of the Piltovan and Zaunite champs.
The preview for season two focused on a few voice lines that reveal much of the second season’s general concept. First, Caitlyn says that if she goes after Jinx alone, one of them is sure to return dead. This is likely being used as a way to convince Vi to come with her on the hunt for Jinx after her Super Mega Death Rocket likely leaves council members, including possibly Caitlyn’s mother, dead.
Vi then says she can hunt Jinx alone, a deflection to keep Caitlyn safe. Finally, Jinx says “I’m glad it’s you.” before the Arcane logo shatters and a wolf howl carries it away, followed by notes from Warwick’s theme.
Arcane: Season 2 Announcement
It was confirmed in the first season that Warwick is in fact Vi and Jinx’s adoptive father, Vander. He was captured at the end of the first season’s first act by Singed, and transformed into the bestial menace known as Warwick. If you want to know exactly how we know that Vander is Warwick, check out our article breaking it down, or our video on Arcane season two.
Arcane season three will not take place in the same place or with the same protagonists as seasons one and two. In the Bridging The Rift documentary series that takes fans behind the scenes of the creation of Arcane, creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee said that season two will wrap up the current storyline and that Arcane will head to new environments and characters in season three and beyond. This seems to be their vision for Arcane, one or two seasons in one location of Runeterra, exploring the world, before wrapping those stories up and heading somewhere new.
There’s been no indication exactly where Arcane season three will take Runeterra fans, but it won’t have anything to do with Jinx, Vi, or the twin cities on the river Pilt. This makes a lot of sense for Riot, leveraging Arcane’s smash success status by turning it into a vessel for more stories about the world and characters of Runeterra.
There are a few strong candidates for the locale of the second season of Arcane, but it’s important to define the qualities that will make the locations more or less likely to be seen. Firstly, it’s likely that the writers will want to stick to a single region or area of Runeterra for the second iteration of Arcane. Taking too wide of a view could disrupt the personal nature of Arcane’s storylines, so inter-region seasons are unlikely just yet.
Demacia and Noxus each have compelling storylines to cover, both being iconic states with recognizable aesthetics and appropriately epic storylines going on. In the shining Petracite cities of Demacia, a mage rebellion led by Sylas threatens to throw the kingdom into war. Meanwhile, the death of king Jarvan being pinned on the mage’s leader, while likely being perpetrated by Leblanc, lends some possible political angles.
Noxus is an expansionist state in a state of perpetual war, driven by dark masters who gather power for the inevitable confrontation with one of the greatest forces of Runeterra. On the face, Noxus has the opportunity to run with Arcane’s dark tone and delve into the secrets of the Iron Basion, under which is contained Mordekaiser, an ancient conqueror who mastered death and threatens to one day return for his previous lands.
The Freljord would be a large leap in the type of setting, from urban sprawl to the brutal tundras of Runeterra’s north. The Freljord had been in a state of lore stasis much like many of Runeterra’s regions. Recently, however, with the Udyr update and what seems to be an impending Void invasion storyline. The Freljord would move from Piltover and Zaun’s more recognizable cityscape to a much wider and more dispersed set of locations.
This option seems like one of the more unlikely, as Freljord presents few central locations to tell a story about. Other candidates share this problem of being too large with few central locations that are recognizable, but Ionia has considerably more cities and settlements than Freljord. Overall, it seems that centralized locations like Demacia, The Iron Bastion, and even Ionia offer the best candidates for the location.
Arcane season two has been confirmed to be in development, but won’t come out until 2023 at the absolute soonest. If Riot follows the pattern they set for the first season of Arcane, the next installment will release in early November following the finals of the League of Legends World Championship.
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