Arcane

(Image credit: Riot Games)

Arcane’s showrunners say that any future League of Legends projects would need to look and feel different from the current series, because “if we’re just doing another superhero thing as an IP, then there’s no reason to do this”.

In an interview with GamesRadar+ ahead of Arcane’s second and final season, co-creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee suggested that a future League of Legends spin-off would “really need to have a message”. Despite confirming that this series will end with season 2, the pair have expressed a desire to tell more stories in the game’s universe, but Linke says that since they work in animation, “it would be a shame and a failure on our part” if a new show looked and felt “the same” as Arcane.

“I think that’s one of the benefits of animation,” he explains. “In live-action, you’re still kind of bound to reality and what humans and all kinds of stuff looks like. But in animation, we can kind of do anything. So hopefully, I would say that our animation style should be as eclectic as our games.”

League of Legends’ character designs range from bubbly popstars to murderous underwater specters to ancient animalistic gods, and Linke says that the “eclectic” difference in tonality is something that future spin-offs should share.

Linke is also keen that a new direction go beyond the show’s visuals. “I figure we would say that if we’re just another superhero thing as an IP, then there’s no reason to do this. I think we really need to kind of…” “Have a message,” Yee interjects. “I think it’s important to remember, coming into this from games, we’re already engaged with what felt like a new form of storytelling, following TV and movies. I think that spirit is still in us. And so it’s like trying to remember the methods in which stories can be told and the ways in which players can interact with them are always in a state of fluidity.”

There’s no official word on the future of Linke and Yee’s animation work. Linke has previously said that there are more stories that the pair want to tell in the League of Legends universe (and fans have been speculating wildly about what those might be). But as Arcane sesaon 2 nears, it’s clear that the pair are looking to push themselves even further than the show’s reported $250 million budget has pushed them in the past.