Riot is working on more series in the League of Legends universe after the huge Netflix success of Arcane. We analyse where the journey might be heading.
Arcane proved it: Game adaptations can be true masterpieces and stand completely on their own. But if Riot has its way, the future holds far more than just a second season. According to Business Insider, there is talk of a whole series universe around the MOBA phenomenon League of Legends – including a live-action adaptation.
LoL offers many more exciting champions and locations that go beyond what we get to see in Arcane. Our expert therefore ventures a first glimpse at possible locations and heroes.
What Riot is planning after Arcane
A second season for the Netflix success has already been announced, but will be quite a while coming. This probably also applies to further series adaptations – after all, the television debut devoured a whole six years of production time. But Riot is not discouraged by this, as President of Entertainment Shauna Spenley tells Business Insider. After all, Arcane has shown what’s possible:
Arcane is just the starting gun for many stories. We are intensifying our efforts with Fortiche to tell more stories with the visual style of Arcane. We are also looking into live action projects and talking to writers and showrunners. We are just at the beginning of the path we want to take.
The French studio Fortiche was responsible for the impressive animation style, which breaks new ground technically:
Although the production will take quite a while, the chances are that we will soon see more series in this style – possibly around other LoL heroes, while Arcane continues the story of Jinx, Vi, Jayce and Co. Projects around Valorant, Riot’s second big universe, are also conceivable.
A live-action series would probably be quite expensive if Riot wants to stage the superpowers of the champions appropriately. However, there is also nothing to stop Riot from moving even further away from the game template here. After all, one of the secrets of Arcane’s success is that the series does not only appeal to LoL players.
We even advise against plunging into the MOBA now because of Arcane – story and characters only play a small role here. On the other hand, Riot is expanding its universe in the gaming cosmos and offers exciting alternatives such as the role-playing game Ruined King.
Expert Outlook: There’s still plenty to say about LoL
The LoL universe offers plenty of possibilities and settings for exciting stories. Arcane already tells about the brutal conflict between Piltover and Zhaun, the Shadow Isles and Bilgewater are dealt with in the role-playing game Ruined King. Song of Nunu will take us to the icy Freljord in 2022, where we might also run into warrior queen Ashe. So far, one region in particular has been left out completely, which I personally find extremely exciting: Ionia!
This island nation is inspired by feudal Japan, infused with natural magic and inhabited by humans and mysterious spirit beings. I’d bet my Riot Tristana skin that we’ll get a series or at least a movie in this setting. Maybe about the Noxian invasion or Master Yi’s past in Wuju?
Speaking of Noxus, the sinister empire where strength matters more than anything else will probably play a role in season 2 of Arcane. But I could also imagine it becoming its own spin-off. After all, the eternal conflict between Noxus and Demacia has produced some of the most exciting champion relationships ever. If Katarina, Lux and Garen aren’t perfect material for a multi-layered TV drama, then I don’t know what is.
And of course, let’s not forget: The cosmic void from which powerful demons like Vel’Koz pour. Bandle City, the psychedelic home of the cuddly Yordle. The fallen desert empire of Shurima, strongly reminiscent of Ancient Egypt:
And we haven’t even mentioned the Rune Wars that nearly destroyed the world! How Riot is going to choose between so many options is beyond me. But I’ll give them a fat helping of advance faith there after Arcane.
What would you like to see? Maybe you even have a specific story in mind that you’d like to know more about? Let us know in the comments
