That's it. Arcane has officially come to a close after just two seasons. But with the enduring popularity and previous (muddled) talk over a 'five season plan' for one of the best Netflix shows around, it's worth cutting through all the noise on whether Arcane season 3 was ever in the works and what could be the next project to come from the League of Legends universe.
So, join us as we poke and prod our way through talk of Arcane season 3 and what new Arcane-adjacent shows, if any, are currently in the works at Netflix or beyond. And don't worry: this is a spoiler-free look ahead, so you won't find any details about the fates of Jinx, Vi, or any other major Arcane character here.
Is there an Arcane season 3?
No – and it was never going to happen, despite reports to the contrary. While some aspects of Arcane season 2 felt a little squeezed for time (understandable, given how much the show packed into its nine episodes), that wasn't a case of condensing multiple seasons' worth of plot into a few Acts.
League of Legends creator Marc Merill clarified the confusion over a scrapped Arcane season 3 (and beyond) in a recent post on Reddit. He wrote: "The confusion is because internally there was a budget conversation about 'approving 5 seasons' – which simply means we were setting aside a bunch of money for lots of development and is completely irrelevant to the Arcane creative. The creative and making something great is what the priority should always be for Riot and our teams."
On what's coming next, Merrill added, "We have also always envisioned telling more stories and continuing to expand the universe. That hasn’t ever changed."
Those plans are mirrored by Arcane co-creator Christian Linke, who told Collider that they'd be branching out to other areas of Runeterra for the next story to tell.
"Yeah, we're currently developing a bunch of follow-up projects," Linke teased. "Really, Arcane was always considered the first step, kind of like the trial by fire. You need to figure out, “Can we do this? Do we have the chops? Do we have the characters? Do we have the storytelling?” So, now we're working on the follow-up projects and it's really fun to start to look at some of the other characters and regions of our world."
While both leading creatives are reluctant to explore what's coming down the pipeline just yet, we can read between the lines a little – any new stories will move away from those established in Arcane. That's not to say Arcane spin-offs and other Arcane-adjacent series are impossible, but we imagine Riot Games, Fortiche, and whoever else is involved in the next wave of League of Legends media – whether that's on the big screen or on streaming – will jump about in location and timelines, and may focus on different Champions. There are 140 to choose from, after all.
Arcane season 2 is now streaming on Netflix. For more, check out our picks for the best anime on Netflix and the top 10 Netflix shows this week.
