Season 2 of Netflix's Arcane is seemingly not coming this year as expected.
The hit animated series set in the world of the uber-popular League of Legends (LoL) video game shocked many with its first season, quickly becoming not just one of the best video game adaptations ever but one of the highest-rated TV series in quite some time (currently sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes).
Shortly after the success of the first season, a sophomore effort was greenlit by Netflix and LoL developer Riot Games.
Riot CEO Nicolo Laurent previously tweeted the series would not take nearly as long as Season 1 to develop, but it would "not [be] coming in 2022." This led many to speculate Arcane Season 2 was primed for a 2023 release date.
Arcane Season 2 Streaming Update
In a new interview with Chinese outlet Billibilli, Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent revealed that Arcane Season 2 would not be coming in 2023.
He remarked that "it's unfortunately not going to be this year" for the sophomore season of the hit Netflix series.
Laurent attributed this to two reasons. The first was that the team is striving for "quality," and they "do not want to rush:"
"So, I just watched the third episode of Season 2 before my flight to China. We're making progress on it. It is not ready yet, and there are two reasons for that. One, you want the quality. We just do not want to rush, and that takes time. So that's a good reason."
The second point, he added, was that they "didn't know if Season 1 was going to be a success," so they waited to get started on Season 2:
"The bad reason is honestly we didn't know if Season 1 was going to be a success. So, we didn't start Season 2 until... If I had known, we would have started Season 2 way earlier. But we didn't know, so we kind of waited a bit. So now we're kind of paying the price."
When Will Netflix Release Arcane Season 2?
With many having their money on Arcane Season 2 hitting Netflix by the end of this year, these quotes make things even more unclear than they were before.
However, it is not all disappointing news. If what Nicolo Laurent says is true and he just got done watching the third episode of the second season before his flight to China, that means work on the series is far along.
Even though Season 2 may not be coming later in 2023, it would not be surprising if it started streaming not too long after the turning of the calendar.
A Q1 2024 release feels right for where Season 2 seemingly is in production.
Come this fall, the next batch of episodes will have been in the works officially for more than two years, which is more than enough time for Season 2 to come to fruition.
The League of Legends World Championships usually close out the year (happening most often in late November), so fans should be on the lookout for a potential trailer and release date announcement at this year's iteration of the event, with a release in early 2024.
Arance Season 1 can be streamed now in its entirety on Netflix.
