Over the past 12 years, the universe of League of Legends has become more and more detailed as the game grows with more characters, locations, and stories. Many fans have asked Riot Games to create a series around the imagined world of Runeterra, but that seemed to be a pipe dream. In 2019, however, several huge announcements were made, one of which was the introduction to the company’s first animated show called Arcane.
“Arcane was created as a love letter to our players and fans, who have been asking us for more cinematic experiences that dive deeper into the worlds and champions in League of Legends,” Riot’s global president of entertainment Shauna Spenley said. “Netflix, with its incredible global brand and shared goal of delivering premium, high quality content, is the perfect partner to help us bring Arcane to players around the globe.”
The new series has been confirmed as a Netflix exclusive with a release date set for fall 2021. Based on the trailers, Arcane will focus on the backstory of Jinx and Vi, two of League‘s most iconic champions. Most people know that Vi and Jinx are each other’s nemesis in today’s lore, but the show appears to give a closer look into their relationship from when they were young children, on top of what caused them to split apart and become sworn enemies.
Additionally, the story appears to mainly take place in the bright, technologically advanced city of Piltover and the dark undercity district of Zaun since both characters originate from these regions. But the world of Runeterra is large and many other places could be featured.
There are even multiple new characters that have been introduced in the trailers, but they haven’t been identified as of yet. It’s unclear if we’ll see other popular champions from Zaun and Piltover, but if Riot does decide to throw some in, there are a plethora of characters it can choose from, including Caitlyn, Camille, Viktor, Ekko, and Warwick.
“League of Legends has inspired global fervor and fandom and we’re thrilled to be the home of the first television series set in this universe, Arcane,” Netflix original animation director Dominique Bazay said. “The series promises to be a visually spectacular thrill ride that will have viewers on the edge of their seats.”
The exact release date for Arcane has not been confirmed just yet, but we should get more information later in the year.
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