- Won't be released before 2023
- Three key cast members will return
- Story likely to pick up straight after season 1 finale
- Season 1 is up for 10 gongs at various animation award ceremonies
League of Legends (LoL) fans, rejoice: Arcane season 2 is officially on the way. The animated TV series' first season wowed critics and Netflix subscribers alike upon its initial release, so it's unsurprising that a sequel is coming at some point.
Currently, the Netflix series has a 100% fresh critical rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a 96% rating among the general population, so clearly there's an appetite for more tales in LoL's animated universe. And, based on our chat with the cast and crew ahead of the first season's launch in November 2021, and the season 1 finale itself, there's a lot more life left in Arcane, too.
With its predecessor up for nine Annie awards and a Golden Reel gong at this year's ceremonies on March 12 and 13 respectively, Arcane season 2 has a lot to live up to. The show's second instalment isn't due to arrive before early 2023, but we're happy to wait if it means Arcane season 2 will be as good as the one that preceded it. After all, it bested the live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop late last year, and there are few Netflix shows that are rated as highly as Arcane, so expectations are high, even months ahead of its arrival.
In the meantime, what we do know about Arcane season 2 on Netflix? Below, you'll find more information on everything surrounding Arcane's second season, including its potential plot, returning characters, and more. Major spoilers follow for Arcane season 1.
Arcane season 2 release date
Arcane season 2 release date: 2023?
There’s no official release date for Arcane season 2 yet. We know it’s on the way, though, after the show’s return was announced following the season 1 finale:
Ready yourselves, friends. Season 2 of Arcane is now in production. Where’s a Hexgate when you need one? pic.twitter.com/3aUeWuQ5UuNovember 21, 2021
The above teaser doesn’t give anything away, apart from revealing that season 2 is in production and that three season 1 characters will return (more on this later). Still, we’re delighted that Arcane is getting a second outing. It certainly deserves one.
But when will it return to Netflix? Right now, that’s hard to say as we don’t know how far along season 2 is. But don’t expect it to arrive in 2022, according to Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent, who tweeted that the next entry in the series won’t be ready for next year:
So yeah, we are working on #arcane season 2. The good news: you won’t have to wait for 6 years (the time it took us to making season 1)The bad news: it’s not coming in 2022 😢 https://t.co/IQoPyLnw1JNovember 21, 2021
Expect Arcane season 2 to drop sometime in 2023, then. Given that Fortiche Productions recently posted a job advert for new FX3D artists for season 2 (thanks for the heads up, Reddit!), development on season 2 is still in the early stages, too.
We’re happy to wait, though: the show evidently needs lots of care and attention to make it as good as it is, and rushing it will only make for a poor follow-up. Hopefully, season 2 will be with us in early 2023 but, even if it isn’t, we’d happily wait until December 31, 2023 for the season 2 premiere.
Arcane season 2 plot
Arcane season 2 plot: what's the story about?
Spoilers follow for Arcane season 1. You've been warned.
If you’ve watched Arcane’s first season, you’ll know that some characters may not be back for its next batch of episodes. That’s because, during the season 1 finale, Jinx fired an arcane crystal rocket at Piltover’s council chamber with many main and supporting characters trapped inside. Those present in the chamber when the rocket exploded included Jayce, Mel, Viktor, Cassandra, Hoskel, Bolbok, Shoola and Salo.
And we don’t expect all of those individuals to survive. If we had to guess, we’d say Mel and Cassandra, at the very least, will have perished or been severely injured. That would give Jayce and Caitlyn a major incentive to pursue Jinx, as Mel and Cassandra are Jayce’s partner and Caitlyn’s mother, respectively.
So we suspect that Arcane season 2 will see Jayce walk back on his promise to give Zaun its independence from Piltover, especially now that Jinx (a Zaun citizen) carried out a terrorist attack on the latter’s council.
Caitlyn, too, could be out for revenge if her mother was hurt or killed, which would put her at odds with Vi, whom Caitlyn had become close with. The latter is Jinx’s sister, after all, so Vi will likely be caught in a difficult situation: help Caitlyn and Jayce to bring her sister to justice, or try to ‘save’ Jinx from herself, which would put her in opposition with Caitlyn and Jayce.
That isn't the only thing that may drive a wedge between Caitlyn and Vi, either. Responding to a fan on Twitter about whether Caitlyn knows that it was Vi and her gang who blew up Jayce's lab at the start of season 2, Arcane writer Amanda Overton revealed that wasn't the case. Could Caitlyn learn the truth in the show's second season? It's highly possible, and we suspect she'll be mad if she does.
Not yet.December 22, 2021
Regardless, expect the brewing war between Piltover and Zaun to take center stage in Arcane season 2. Tensions were already simmering between the two nations throughout the show’s first season, and we wouldn’t be surprised if a full-blown conflict begins as a result of Jinx’s attack on Piltover’s council.
As for other story threads that Arcane season 2 will need to deal with, we’re expecting to see Heimerdinger and Ekko continue to work together to help the undercity. With the former voted off Piltover’s council in season 1 episode 7, he bumped into an injured Ekko on the streets of Zaun in episode 8. The pair bond over their shared love of technology and, after Heimerdinger helps Ekko to return home, the duo decide to collaborate and try to ease Zaun’s suffering.
We’ll also need to see whether Viktor will completely lose himself completely to his Hextech research. He’s already inadvertently murdered his childhood friend Sky as a result of his Hexcore studies, and it appears that he’ll walk a darker path in season 2. If we know anything about LoL lore, there’s every chance that we could see Viktor use Hextech to cybernetically enhance his body further and become the LoL champion that diehard LoL fans know him to be.
Arcane season 2 cast
Arcane season 2 cast: who is returning?
Again, there’s no confirmation on this front. But, based on the teaser above, we’re confident that a trio of female characters will be back for Arcane’s sequel:
- Hailee Steinfeld as Vi
- Ella Purnell as Jinx
- Katie Leung as Caitlyn
As the above tweet’s video suggests, Vi, Jinx and Caitlyn will all be back for Arcane season 2. We hear the trio’s voices at various points in the teaser and, given that all three watched on during that explosive season 1 finale, rather than being present in the room, we know that they’re safe from harm and should return for season 2.
So who else may return? That’ll depend on who survives the Piltover council chamber attack. As we said earlier, we think that Mel and/or Cassandra could be casualties of Jinx’s strike, while any of the other council members may die or be injured, too. We would expect Jayce to survive, though. He has a bigger role to play, in our view, and he’ll no doubt want to bring Jinx to justice for her crimes.
Additionally, Ekko and Heimerdinger should be back for season 2. The duo weren’t part of the council chamber attack, so they should return and we’ll see how their character arcs progress in Arcane’s second season. Viktor, too, should return, even though he was in the council chamber at the time of Jinx's attack.
There are likely to be new faces introduced in season 2 as well. There were plenty of deaths in Arcane’s first outing – Silco, Vander and Marcus to name three – so there’s a need for new supporting characters. We have no idea who might show up, but there are lots of LoL heroes and villains that Riot, Netflix and Fortiche Productions can pull from the game franchise’s universe and use for the animated series.
Arcane season 2 trailer
Arcane season 2 trailer: is there one?
No, and it’ll be a while before we see one. Once one is released, we’ll update this section.
Arcane season 2 future
Arcane season 2: does it deserve another outing?
Yes, clearly. The show holds a 100% ‘fresh’ rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes among critics, while it also has a 96% ‘fresh’ rating based on audience reviews, too.
Given its critical acclaim and popularity, Arcane season 2 was a formality. That may not have been the case ahead of release but, as soon as Netflix saw how well it was performing, it was only a matter of time before the company renewed it for a second outing.
There’s plenty of story left to tell, character arcs to tie up, and new individuals and champions to introduce, so Arcane will never be out of ideas from plot or character development perspectives. We’re also big fans of Fortiche’s visuals for the animated series, too, so we’d be happy to see many more instalments in the TV show.
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