Arcane (titled onscreen as Arcane: League of Legends) is an animated steampunk, action-adventure television series created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee. It was produced by the French animation studio Fortiche, under the supervision of Riot Games, and distributed by Netflix. Set in Riot's League of Legends universe, it primarily focuses on sisters Violet / "Vi" (Hailee Steinfeld) and Powder / Jinx (Mia Sinclair Jenness and Ella Purnell) as they become embroiled in a conflict between their native underbelly of Zaun and the city of Piltover. First announced at the League of Legends tenth anniversary celebration in 2019, the series' first season was released in November 2021, and a second and final season was released in November 2024.
Arcane was met with critical acclaim, with praise for its animation, writing, worldbuilding, soundtrack, and voice acting, though the pacing of the second season saw a mixed response. Some have noted the series' appeal to both viewers who have never played League of Legends and longtime fans of the game. It was Netflix's highest-rated series within a week of its premiere, ranked first on the Netflix Top 10 Chart in 52 countries, and second on the chart in the United States. Several critics and publications have considered it to be one of the best video game adaptations ever made. The series won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program, as well as the Annie Award for Best General Audience Animated Television Broadcast Production.
Premise Amidst the escalating unrest between the rich, utopian city of Piltover and the seedy, oppressed underbelly of Zaun, sisters Vi and Powder find themselves embroiled in a developing conflict over clashing convictions and arcane technologies.
Voice cast and characters Main Hailee Steinfeld as Violet / "Vi", a Zaunite orphan and Jinx's elder sister Ella Purnell as Powder / Jinx, a Zaunite orphan and Vi's sister Mia Sinclair Jenness as young Powder Kevin Alejandro as Jayce Talis, a scientist, inventor, and eventual member of the Piltover council, who is responsible for the creation of Hextech Faustino Duran as young Jayce Talis Katie Leung as Caitlyn Kiramman, a Piltover enforcer and Jayce's former lab assistant, who becomes Vi's love interest Molly Harris as young Caitlyn Kiramman Jason Spisak as Silco, a crime lord based in Zaun, Jinx's second adoptive father, and leader of the Chem-Barons Toks Olagundoye as Mel Medarda, a member of the Piltover council who takes an interest in Jayce and Viktor's experiments, and later begins a relationship with the former. She is the disowned heir of Ambessa Medarda and becomes entangled in a conspiracy with the Black Rose. Imogen Faires as young Mel Medarda Harry Lloyd as Viktor, Jayce's research partner and former assistant to Cecil B. Heimerdinger, who helped Jayce in the creation of Hextech. He grows to become obsessed with using magic to perfect humanity, partly due to his physical disabilities. Viktor is originally from Zaun, but lives in Piltover. Edan Hayhurst as young Viktor JB Blanc as Vander, Silco's former brother-in-arms who took part in a rebellion that led to the death of Vi and Jinx's parents, leading him to adopt both of them. He is also the owner of The Last Drop bar. In the second season, he is turned into a wolf-like beast named Warwick by Singed. Blanc also voices Irius Bolbok (season 1), a member of the Piltover council Reed Shannon as Ekko, a childhood friend of Vi and Jinx, and the leader of the revolutionary Zaunite group, the Firelights Miles Brown as young Ekko Mick Wingert as Cecil B. Heimerdinger, a founder of Piltover and leader of the city's council who mentors Jayce, Viktor, and later Ekko Wingert also voices Heenot (season 2), an accountant who works for the Chem-Barons Amirah Vann as Sevika, Silco's right-hand woman and chief enforcer Ellen Thomas as Ambessa Medarda, Mel's mother and a respected but brutal war general from Noxus who seeks to use Hextech weapons against the Black Rose Brett Tucker as Dr. Corin Reveck / Singed, Viktor's former mentor, and the chief scientist for Silco and later Ambessa, who performs unethical experiments in an effort to realize immortality and save his cryopreserved daughter
Recurring Shohreh Aghdashloo as Grayson (season 1), the original sheriff of Piltover Remy Hii as: Marcus (season 1), the sheriff of Piltover who is secretly a corrupt enforcer working for Silco Tobias Kiramman, Caitlyn's father Josh Keaton as: Deckard (season 1), a Zaunite thug who works for Silco Allira Salo, a member of the Piltover council with selfish interests Bill Lobley as Huck, a resident of Zaun who becomes addicted to shimmer Yuri Lowenthal as Mylo, Vi and Jinx's arrogant adoptive brother Roger Craig Smith as Claggor, Vi and Jinx's strong adoptive brother Fred Tatasciore as Benzo, Ekko's adoptive father, Vander's friend, and a pawn shop owner Mara Junot as Shoola, a member of the Piltover council Erica Lindbeck as Elora, Mel's assistant Abigail Marlowe as: Cassandra Kiramman, Caitlyn's mother and a member of the Piltover council Renni, a Chem-Baron who runs several chemical facilities Dave B. Mitchell as Torman Hoskel (season 1), a member of the Piltover council Kimberly Brooks as: Sky Young, Viktor's assistant who has an unrequited crush on him Margot (season 2; mute in season 1), a Chem-Baron who provides prostitution services Miyavi as Finn (season 1), a Chem-Baron who supplies weaponry and seeks to usurp Silco Stewart Scudamore as Rictus (season 2; mute in season 1), Ambessa's bodyguard Earl Baylon as Loris (season 2), a Piltover enforcer who befriends Vi and joins Caitlyn's strike team Katy Townsend as Maddie Nolen (season 2), a Piltover enforcer who befriends Caitlyn and joins her strike team Lucy Lowe as Isha (season 2), a Zaunite orphan adopted by Jinx Ashley Holliday as Gert (season 2), a prominent member of the Jinxers resistance group Minnie Driver as LeBlanc / the Illusionary Sorceress (season 2), the leader of the Black Rose who is at odds with Ambessa
Guest Imagine Dragons as The Last Drop's band (season 1) JID as The Last Drop's rapper (season 1) Ray Chen as an orchestra concert soloist (season 1) Krizia Bajos as Ximena Talis (season 1; mute in season 2), Jayce's mother who was rescued by a mysterious wizard in her past Mira Furlan as Babette (season 1; mute in season 2), the madame of a brothel in Zaun Salli Saffioti as Amara, a member of Piltover's merchant guild who is secretly a member of the Black Rose Robbie Daymond as Scar (season 2; mute in season 1), Ekko's right-hand man and second-in-command of the Firelights Lenny Citrano as Smeech (season 2; mute in season 1), a Chem-Baron who sells cybernetic enhancements Lex Lang as Chross (season 2; mute in season 1), an elderly Chem-Baron who runs a network of informants Eve Lindley as Lest (season 2), a healer working for Salo who also spies on him for Mel Keston John as Kino Medarda (season 2), Mel's deceased older brother Jeannie Tirado as Felicia (season 2), Vi and Jinx's deceased mother
The League of Legends character Orianna also appears in the second season, as well as recurring character Steb, both of whom do not have a credited voice actor.
Episodes
Season 1 (2021)
Season 2 (2024)
Production Arcanes production differed from standard industry practice. The idea for the series first came from Christian Linke in 2015 after Riot had initially delved into other media to help strengthen the connections players had with the IP such as cinematic trailers and music videos. But at that point, none of the promotional content had any dialogue. Next, instead of finding a new animation studio that specialized in television animation, Riot decided to continue their partnership with Fortiche; who had produced music videos for them. Riot also targeted the "adult-minded" animation market instead of more established markets for video game to television animation adaptations.
Arcane was first announced at the League of Legends 10th anniversary celebration in 2019, and is set in Riot's League of Legends fictional universe. In September 2021, it was announced that Hailee Steinfeld, Ella Purnell, Kevin Alejandro, Katie Leung, Jason Spisak, Toks Olagundoye, JB Blanc and Harry Lloyd had joined the voice cast.
Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent has stated it took six years to develop the first season of Arcane.
On November 20, 2021, following the conclusion of Arcanes first season, Riot Games and Netflix announced that a second season was in production for a planned post-2022 release. In June 2024, it was announced that the second season would be the series' last; the season debuted on November 9, 2024, and concluded along with the series on November 23. The combined budget for both seasons is reported to be $250 million. Riot Games co-founder Mark Merrill contested this amount, stating that "the $250 million headline is not even accurate because that includes marketing expenses. The actual creation budget is significantly less than that...I'll give you a ballpark range. It's somewhere between 60 to 75% of that estimate."
Broadcast Marketing Riot Games promoted the launch of Arcane through events in their games, including League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics, League of Legends: Wild Rift, and Valorant as "RiotX Arcane". It also launched promotional collaborations with non-Riot games such as PUBG Mobile, Fortnite, and Among Us.
On November 6, 2021, for the global premiere of the series, Riot Games streamed the first episode on Twitch. Some content creators were allowed to co-stream the first three episodes of the series once they received permission from Riot Games, a first for a Netflix series, which also allowed viewers to retrieve in-game drops during the premiere. Drops were only included in the games League of Legends (Arcane Capsule), Wild Rift ("A Single Tear" Emote), Teamfight Tactics (Gizmos & Gadgets Little Legends Egg), Legends of Runeterra ("Fascinating" Emote), and Valorant ("Fishbones" Gun Buddy). The premiere was watched by a concurrent 1.8 million viewers on Twitch. On November 21, Netflix and Riot Games announced a partnership with Secret Cinema for an in-person Arcane experience in Los Angeles, California.
Release Originally set for a 2020 release, the show's first season was delayed for release in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was scheduled for a simultaneous November 6, 2021 release on Netflix and China's Tencent Video, with the series broken into nine episodes, and with three episode "acts" being released once a week over three weeks. The same release format was used for the second and final season.
Leaks On August 9, 2024, Netflix stated that one of its post-production vendors had been compromised, which led to a number of episodes from several Netflix titles, including three episodes from the second season of Arcane, being leaked online. The leaks have been described as "the worst anime leak of all time" by some media outlets. It was later reported that the company Iyuno was the source of the security breach. Netflix later issued a statement, saying it would take action against those responsible for the leaks. On November 21, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued a subpoena, ordering Discord to provide information of the user that claimed responsibility for the leaks.
Home media In June 2024, it was announced that GKIDS had acquired the home video rights to Arcane. The digital copy of the first season was released on September 24, 2024, followed by the 4K Blu-ray edition on October 8, 2024.
In February 2025, it was announced the second and final season would be released on 4K Blu-ray by GKIDS in 2025.
Soundtrack