Months before Arcane Season 2 is set for release, the hit Netflix series had a large portion of its sophomore effort leak online.
Based in the world of Riot Games' League of Legends multiplayer juggernaut, this unique animated series captured fans' minds and hearts in November 2021, telling a heartbreaking tale of rebellion and the power of family.
Season 2 has been a long time coming, but it will supposedly be worth the wait. The series is set to finally return on November 2, bringing a close to the Arcane story as fans know it.
Arcane Season 2 Leaks Online
Season 2 of Netflix's Arcane series has leaked online ahead of its November release date.
The first five episodes of the beloved animated series' second season can now be found on various corners of the internet; however, they seem to be low quality (usually somewhere around 360p), covered in watermarks, and include a myriad of unfinished/not final animated assets.
This comes as the latest in a string of series to leak at Netflix, as hackers take advantage of what seems to be a major security failure.
Experts have called this the biggest leak in animation history, as it not just includes several unreleased titles but some of the streamer's biggest tentpoles left in 2024.
Arcane got out of this leak fairly easily with only a portion of the show's upcoming season making its way online.
Other projects have not faired nearly as well with titles like the Terminator Zero anime, which is due out on Thursday, August 29, that had their entire run of unreleased episodes leaked to the public.
Titles included alongside Arcane and Terminator include Dandadan, Ranma 1/2, the upcoming Spongebob movie, and Mononoke.
Origins of the leak remain unknown, but some have speculated - based on watermarks on several of the videos associated with it - that they may have been obtained sometime during Japan Expo 2024, which ran from July 11 to 14 in Paris, France (via Games Radar).
Netflix has yet to comment on the leaked titles but seems to be in the process of taking down posts promoting the leak or sharing unreleased materials online.
Of course, this means that heavy spoilers for Arcane Season 2 (along with these other titles) are now in heavy supply.
That means those who want to go in as blind as possible to Arcane's second batch of episodes should be careful where they go poking around online.
[ Arcane Season 2: Release, Cast and Everything We Know ]
What Could the Arcane Leaks Mean for Season 2?
Coming out of this massive Netflix leak, which included Arcane Season 2, the question many fans will have is what happens next for the animated series.
Some believe there is a chance that now that the first five episodes are out to the public, the series may move up its release date to lessen the impact of any spoilers that may stem from it.
That would not be an unprecedented move, but one that seems highly unlikely at this juncture.
Judging from the state the series is in based on these leaked videos, it is not quite ready for prime time with a sizeable amount of animation work still needing to be done.
Of course, these leaked versions of the episodes may not properly represent where the series stands in production.
They could be from several weeks or months before the leak actually happened, with the culprits simply only having access to these older versions.
But even then, with more than three months left before the show is set to be officially released, surely there is still plenty of time before a final version of these episodes will be locked.
The most likely plan of action for Netflix will seemingly be not to stay the course. This would see the Arcane animation team finish its work on the series, hold the show's November release date, and the streamer likely launch a widespread campaign to find whoever did this in the first place.
Arcane Season 2 is set to be released on November 2.
Read more about Arcane:
Arcane Season 2: First Look at Jinx Revealed (Photos)
Arcane Season 2 Will Bring Back This Dead Character, Reveals Star
Arcane Season 2: 9 League of Legends Characters Who Should Appear