Arcane season two isn’t coming out any time soon, but Riot Games is hoping to tide fans over with a making-of series entitled Arcane: Bridging the Rift.
Netflix Geeked Week is underway, with the streaming service giving fans a sneak peek of a variety of movies and series set to debut in the coming months. Arcane was given prominent billing for day three of Geeked Week, which led to rampant fan speculation.
Alas, Netflix came well short of anything like a trailer of Arcane season two. In fact, no information was given at all. Instead, fans received a first look at Arcane: Bridging the Rift, a YouTube series from Riot Games.
What is Arcane: Bridging the Rift?
Arcane: Bridging the Rift is an upcoming YouTube series about the creation of Arcane. The series is being made by Riot Games and will tell “the story of how Arcane came to be” across five episodes.
The series will focus on the creation of the series as told by the animators, writers, and Riot Games team. Odds are that it will not flesh out the Arcane world beyond what fans saw in the series, but will instead provide insight on how everything came together.
The show’s creators have said that the series took six years to make it from the idea stage to screens. According to interviews from Riot, the long development cycle stemmed from the pivot from punchy animated shorts like the K/DA music videos to six hours of content. Despite being on the stove for that length of time, the efforts likely paid off for Riot.
Arcane debuted on Netflix and Twitch on November 6, 2021. The premiere was a smashing success, with the series drawing a massive audience on both platforms and enormous critical praise. A staggered release saw hype stay at a high level for weeks. A cliffhanger ending to season one has fans desperate for a second season.
Is Arcane season two canceled?
Despite the lack of news on season two, Arcane definitely isn’t canceled.
Jinx voice actress Ella Purnell was one of the hosts for the event. Purnell acknowledged working on Arcane season two but gave no information about what will happen. Given the lengthy development cycle of Arcane’s first season and the blank check being written for its development by Riot Games, don’t expect it to launch until 2023. Or maybe even beyond that.
What will happen in Arcane season two?
Arcane season two will follow up on the events of season one, which ended with a dramatic cliffhanger where Jinx seemingly destroys the Council of Piltover.
While the League of Legends universe is vast with many different potential stories to tell, things will remain focused predominantly on Piltover and Zaun. The Council of Piltover being attacked and likely having some or all of its members killed opens the door for a number of plot threads.
Caitlyn’s mother is on the council and it would cause obvious tension with Vi over how to deal with an increasingly erratic Jinx. If Mel dies, it will force Jayce to respond and will likely result in tensions with Noxus. On top of all this, Viktor isn’t quite the LoL champion fans are familiar with in Arcane, meaning he has to go through some glorious evolution. All this and more is likely on tap for Arcane season two.
