Arcane Season 3: Netflix Show's Controversial Decision to Not Release Another Season, Explained

Arcane Season 3 is not happening to the disappointment of many fans.

Riot Games' League of Legends video game adaptation on Netflix has drawn plenty of praise thanks to the series' sharp storytelling and brilliant animation style. Arcane follows the story of sisters Vi and Jinx over many years as they find themselves on different sides of a brewing war between Piltover and Zaun.

Many were surprised to learn that Arcane would end its story with the second season despite the series' success, including high viewership and award wins.

Was Arcane Season 3 Originally Planned?

Arcane's short season count may seem surprising, as Variety reported the series was "initially budgeted for a five-season arc."

Recently, Arcane co-creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee cleared up this speculation in an interview with TechRadar, with Linke saying five seasons was "never the plan:"

"When we started building out the story after the pilot, that's when we were like 'Okay, it's going to be two seasons. It was never the plan for it to last five seasons."

Instead, the multiple-season rumors stemmed from a harmless prank by former Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent:

"But, what happened was – I think we had the pilot or a few episodes, but we still hadn't had the green light for a full season. At the time, Nicolo thought it would be really funny to pull me into a room and say 'Hey, I know you haven't had the green light yet, and I decided I'm not going to give it to you'. I sat there, looking pretty upset, before he added 'Because I'm giving you the go-ahead for five seasons!'. We both laughed..."

Yee added this was Laurent's way of telling the team they had the studio's support and that they would give them "a lot of runway with this:"

"Making an animated series – it has such a long development pipeline that it was a lot for us to ask them [Riot's executive team] to trust us with one season. But we also said 'If you want there to be another season soon after that, we need to start working on it while we're finishing the first one'. So, that five-season joke was their way of saying 'Hey, we want to give you a lot of runway with this.' "

Linke added in an interview with CinemaBlend that, while they had the studio's support to make as many seasons of Arcane as needed, they adhered to their original two-season plan so that they could avoid "running out of juice:"

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.

Another unavoidable truth about Arcane that could have contributed to its short-season run is that it was massively expensive. Variety's report concluded that the first two seasons cost around $250 million, making the Netflix title the most expensive animated series ever.

The outlet also reported that the series would "almost certainly not be profitable for Riot," with the worldwide distribution rights from Netflix ($3 million per episode) and the Chinese distribution rights from Tencent (another $3 million per episode) not even close to covering the production costs. 

Variety noted that expanding Arcane's merchandise range and tie-in microtransactions in League of Legends should help cover the deficit, but "breaking even is seen as the best-case scenario."

Will There Be More League of Legends Series After Arcane?

While Arcane will wrap up with its second season, the series may continue to live on through more animated projects in the League of Legends world. 

In a League of Legends dev update earlier in the year, Linke said Arcane is "just the beginning of our larger storytelling journey" and "the first of many stories that we want to tell in Runeterra."

If Variety's report is anything to go by, Arcane was supposed to be just the beginning of Riot's push into the entertainment space. 

However, like many in the video game industry, Riot went through a round of significant layoffs earlier this year. According to the report, the entertainment division at Riot has all but disbanded, with the leadership team reappointed to other areas of the company. 

It's unclear what this may mean for any future projects beyond Arcane. Linke maintained in recent interviews that plenty of projects with Fortiche in the League of Legends world are still in development, but none have moved into full-scale production just yet.

Arcane Season 2 could be a litmus test for Riot. The company may evaluate how profitable the series can be in other areas beyond distribution and if it can feed some of that profit back into the gaming space, whether by drawing new players to League of Legends or with in-game cosmetic sales.

The results could then determine how the company chooses to proceed with new entertainment projects, but hopefully, Arcane's critical success and popularity with fans will motivate Riot to continue its efforts in this space. 

Read more about the full voice acting cast of Arcane Season 2.

Arcane Season 2, Episodes 1-3 are streaming on Netflix. The final episodes will be released on Saturday, November 16 and Saturday, November 23.