Riot Games co-founder, League of Legends creator, and Arcane producer Marc Merrill has cleared up some confusion surrounding Arcane and its reported original “five-season” plan.
In a report that revealed Arcane is the most expensive animated show ever made with a budget of $250 million to produce 18 episodes, it was also shared that there was originally a five-season plan for the animated series.
Well, Merrill is debunking that five-season claim and says that the Netflix series was only ever going to be two seasons long.
Merrill shared on Reddit: “Arcane was always written to be two seasons. We have also always envisioned telling more stories and continuing to expand the universe.
“That hasn’t ever changed – people just jump at rumors or misleading headlines and Riot didn’t correct them – but given those rumors gained momentum, happy to clarify.”
Merrill went on to explain: “Just because that is our intent, doesn’t mean it’s easy or that we can pump these things out like a factory – just like making games that are worthy of players time / love is really hard, so too is telling great stories and making incredible shows / films (especially when we are building it from scratch for the first time).”
Co-creator Christian Linke previously talked about the show’s two-season run, saying: “We always had a specific story in mind. Look, you could have stretched it, I’m sure. But for us, it was always just like we started with this in mind. I think there’s also a personal angle to it as creatives.
“We’ve all seen the TV shows, where clearly the writers are running out of juice. How inspired can you stay about the same thing, for how long?
“It’s been nine years for us, with these characters. I think there’s a responsibility aspect to this, also, where we’re like, this is what we had in mind.”
He added: “This is the story that we had in our heads that we want to tell. It’s irresponsible to stretch this to a point where it feels like we can’t even really do it justice. I think that was a big part of it. We don’t want to overdo it.”
So far Arcane Season 2 has been incredible! I loved this show and I think ever penny spent on bringing this story to life is worth it.
I can’t wait to see what the next series will be!
