Staring at the TV as Arcane’s credits rolled, my head started to spin. It wasn’t motion sickness but rather the endless possibilities ahead of League of Legends developer Riot Games and the French animation studio Fortiche in the wake of their show’s success. Arcane is one of the most impressive projects Netflix has ever produced, and the streamer would be foolish not to commit to building out this rich, enormous universe for years to come.
Arcane, based on the enduringly popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game League of Legends, debuted to widespread acclaim in November 2021. The game doesn’t really feature a linear, rigid story to adapt, like The Last of Us, so the team drew inspiration from the world and the characters while crafting a new story around them.
The result of Riot teaming up with Fortiche was one of the most complex, thrilling, and mature original TV series Netflix has ever produced, animated or otherwise. Arcane is in a league of its own, and while its second season felt a bit rushed and overstuffed, it is hard not to marvel at the spectacle of it all, from the unrivaled animation to the electric soundtrack to the wildly ambitious plot that demands your attention from start to finish.
That’s why I was so excited by a recent interview between Arcane showrunner Christian Linke and Twitch streamer Necrit94 (via TheGamer). During their discussion, Linke confirmed that not only has Riot Games’ next series set in Runeterra (the world of League of Legends and Arcane) been in development for over a year, but that there are three new shows in the works altogether, each set in regions of the world that we didn’t explore in Arcane.
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Linke revealed that shows set in Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia are the next step for the “cinematic universe” Riot Games and Fortiche are building together. He added: “We’re far from done, we’re really going wide, we’re looking at every region and we really now have the ability to build a slate to tell new stories and continue others.”
You might recall that the imposing warlord Ambessa Medarda and her cunning daughter Mel hail from Noxus, but here are short descriptions of each region from Riot:
- Noxus: Noxus is a powerful empire with a fearsome reputation. To those beyond its borders, it is brutal, expansionist, and threatening, yet those who look past its warlike exterior see an unusually inclusive society, where the strengths and talents of its people are respected and cultivated.
- Ionia: Surrounded by treacherous seas, Ionia is composed of a number of allied provinces scattered across a massive archipelago, known to many as the First Lands. Since Ionian culture has long been shaped by the pursuit of balance in all things, the border between the material and spirit realms tends to be more permeable here, especially in the wild forests and mountains.
- Demacia: A strong, lawful kingdom with a prestigious military history, Demacia’s people have always valued the ideals of justice, honor, and duty most highly, and are fiercely proud of their cultural heritage. But in spite of these lofty principles, this largely self-sufficient nation has grown more insular and isolationist in recent centuries.
There’s obviously no guarantee that any of these TV shows will air, but with so many of Netflix’s biggest hits coming to an end—from Stranger Things and You to Squid Game and Outer Banks—the streamer needs to restock quickly. What better way to do so than with a deep, expansive cinematic universe that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the MCU?
Of course, League of Legends has only been around a fraction as long as Marvel, but we have seen what talented writers and artists can do with this bounteous backdrop. Consistency will be key, as we’ve also seen Marvel’s repeated misfires on Disney+ as it attempted to shovel out as much content as possible as quickly as possible.
Given the reports about the ballooning costs of the two seasons of Arcane, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Netflix got cold feet, but I think that would be a serious miscalculation. If Riot and Fortiche can maintain this level of quality, Netflix will have a franchise on its hands that FX, HBO, and any other network or streamer would kill to produce.
“You expose yourself when you take big risks, and people will attack you,” Christian Linke told GamesRadar in another recent interview. “People will question you. It’s not so much that I feel vindicated. It’s just that I think it is nice to see that we didn’t waste people’s money. I think that’s the only way to really put it. We’re not doing it to be megalomaniacs. We really just have always dreamt of the quality of animation we see in movies. We want to see that in serialized content and animation. It really only just started from there, because we love animation.”
The post The Arcane cinematic universe should be Netflix’s answer to the MCU appeared first on BGR.
