Arcane, the acclaimed League of Legends animated series, is set to return for its second season late next year.
A Q4 2024 release window for the series was announced at the Video V Vision Conference hosted by Tencent, League of Legends' Chinese parent company. Speculation on the game's subreddit suggests that that's likely to result in a November release, in keeping with the first season's release as well as League of Legends' 15th anniversary event.
ARCANE Season 2 Release Date Revealed | #LeagueOfLegends It has been revealed at the 2024 Tencent Video V Vision Conference that ARCANE Season 2 will premiere in Q4 (Winter) 2024.#Arcane pic.twitter.com/AZB5OeSxzCSeptember 1, 2023
That'll mean a total three-year wait for Arcane Season 2. That's a long gap, but game developer Riot made it clear that despite the success of the first series, it wouldn't be rushing out a follow-up. We've only just started hearing anything about the second season, with a few faces from the first season confirming their returns, but otherwise it's been a quiet few years.
The show focuses on the stories of a handful of League of Legends characters, primarily Vi, Caitlyn, Jinx, Jayce, and Ekko, though it's thought that Arcane Season 2 will expand to include several more, including those of Viktor and Heimerdinger. The show was a critical smash-hit, sweeping the Annie Awards by winning in all nine of its categories. It also claimed two Primetime Emmys for its animation, and won The Game Award for Best Adaption. It topped Netflix charts in its launch month, and boasts a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
As a long-time League of Legends fan, the series' success means a lot, and I'm thrilled that it's not only coming back, but that it's clear Riot and animation studio Fortiche (which has since been acquired by the game developer) have been taking their time to let Arcade Season 2 live up to the first series' success. I'll also reiterate the fact that you definitely don't need to be a League fan to enjoy the series, which is far more concerned with the characters of League of Legends than the game itself.
Arcane is the best possible introduction to the world of League of Legends.
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I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.