Arcane Season 2: What We Know So Far About The Netflix Animated Series
Sometimes a streaming platform releases a show that truly takes over my life. It could be Ted Lasso from Apple TV+, where I literally think Ted is the most relatable character on television right now. Or, it could be The Witcher, because I can’t help but love my fantasy shows. However, today, I am going to talk about an excellent show from Netflix – Arcane.
The series, which premiered over the course of three weeks on the legendary streaming site, was a huge hit. Adapted from the hit game, League of Legends, it tells the tale of two sisters who are separated by tragedy in a world that is separated by class, split between the underground and the above ground society, the worlds of Zaun and Piltover. Arcane ended up becoming one of my favorite under-the-radar animated shows and was such a great addition to Netflix.
Thankfully, Arcane Season 2 was announced not that long after the show became popular back in 2021, but we are now well into 2023 and haven’t gotten a trailer yet for what could be coming. If you’re as curious about the second season as I am, here is what we know so far about the next installment of the series.
What Is The Arcane Season 2 Premiere Date?
Unfortunately, there is no set release date at the time of writing this in April 2023 – and I have a feeling it’ll remain like that for some time.
When the show was first renewed back in 2021, everyone was so eager to see what could be coming to the world of Arcane, and what new characters we might get to experience that’ll only add onto the powerful story we were given regarding Vi and her sister, Jinx. However, it would be some time before fans were given any update as to the process of Season 2.
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The CEO of Riot Games, Nicolo Laurent, confirmed that Season 2 of the popular show would not be on any 2023 TV premiere schedule.
In a video that was published on the Chinese social media website Bilibili (via Win.gg), Laurent confirmed that while Season 2 is in the works, the show will not be coming out at any point during 2023. When asked by a Chinese fan how long people might have to wait for a release, the CEO responded with this:
I just watched the third episode of Season 2, before my flight to China. We’re making progress on it. It’s not ready yet. There are two reasons for that, you want the quality, we just don’t want to rush, and so that takes time, and that’s a good reason. The bad reason is that, honestly, we didn’t know if Season 1 was going to be a success. So we didn’t start Season 2 until after. We didn’t know. And so if I’d known [Arcane was going to be successful], we could have started Season 2 way earlier, but we didn’t know so we kind of waited a bit and so now we’re paying the price.
So, it’ll be some time before we see our favorite characters again – most likely not until 2024 at the earliest.
Ella Purnell, Hailee Steinfeld And Katie Leung Should Be Back For Season 2
The cast of Arcane Season 1 was honestly one of the big reasons I started watching it, but at this time, we can’t confirm that anyone is going to be back, considering there haven’t been any official announcements. There are a few voice actors – as well as their respective characters – who should be back, however.
The end of Arcane Season 1 ended with Jinx, Vi, and Caitlyn in a huge cliffhanger, and in the official renewal video that was posted to YouTube, you can clearly hear their voices, so with that in mind, those three characters, and the voices of Ella Purnell, Hailee Steinfeld, and Katie Leung, should be back for Season 2.
It’s crazy to think of how much these actors have done over the last few years since Arcane came out. Purnell had a huge role in the Yellowjackets cast in Season 1, Steinfeld joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe and won our hearts as Kate Bishop, and Katie Leung appeared in the Amazon television series, The Peripheral in a main role. But, it’ll be awesome to hear their voices again as these awesome characters.
Season 2 Will Have Fans “On The Edge Of Their Seats"
As you can expect, the story for Season 2 of Arcane has pretty much been kept under lock and key since the Season 1 finale aired. With that cliffhanger, where Jinx shot that rocket towards where all the leaders were meeting and Vi trying to get Caitlyn to safety, one can only wonder where the story is going to go.
While we don’t know much about what is going to happen, the voice actor for Jayce, Kevin Alejandro, talked about what they had planned for Season 2 – essentially confirming that he was going to be back in as Jayce for the second season – saying in an interview with BuzzFeed that the story they had worked on so far was going to have fans “on the edge of your seats,” during every episode. He also teased Jayce’s return, saying fans will be “conflicted” about him:
You're going to be conflicted in such a way that I don't know if it's good or bad. Like, your emotions will be pulled out of you and you'll be like 'Oh my god!' That's how you're going to end [Season 2]. It's so good!
I’m so eager to see what they have planned!
Season 2 Actually Started Production During The Pandemic
In that same Alejandro interview, he also confirmed that Season 2 actually began production during the pandemic, saying that the cast and crew was actually delivered several pieces of equipment so that the cast could record their lines from home:
That's just a testament to the crew because they cared about this and didn't want the pandemic to stop it from happening.
He also said that once it was safe to do so, they went in and recorded the last bits of their lines for Season 2 in a studio. With that in mind, it sounds like the cast has finished up a lot of their recording work for Season 2 – and I’m so excited to see hear their wonderful voices again.
Season 2 Won’t Take Nearly As Long To Produce As Season 1
One thing that many fans were concerned about was how long the first season of took, from the announcement to when it aired – six years, if you can believe it. However, the CEO of Rio Games confirmed that Season 2 was not going to take as long. His November 2021 Twitter post noted:
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 make season 1)
Since he did get the chance to watch some of the episodes of the second season, I think we might be getting the show in 2024, so that would be a quicker turnaround time than before. Either way, I’ll be patiently waiting for any kind of crumbs I can get on this series.
What are you the most excited for when it comes to Arcane Season 2? Can it get here any quicker? I need Netflix to move this premiere date up, please.
