Arcane’s co-creator Christian Linke reveals that some content was cut from the finale of the animated Netflix series.
Previously, Linke – who is also showrunner on the League of Legends tie-in – had said in an interview with Dexerto that the initial cut of the ninth and final episode of Arcane season 2 was over an hour long.
“The first version came back from [animation studio] Fortiche and they’re like, ‘Guys, it’s over an hour long. We can’t do this.’ And we were like, ‘Yeah, okay.’ So we kind of chiseled away from that point,” Linke said.
When we pressed Linke on what exactly was left on the cutting room floor, he was understandably reluctant to go into too much detail, especially given the recent discourse about how a vocal minority of fans felt Arcane was rushed in Acts 2 and 3.
“How much do I want to play into the narrative that is going on? [With] some people unhappy about it being rushed, this will only fuel the fire. I mean, there were some things, but it was mostly action that was brought back,” Linke explained.
Even with the cuts, the Arcane season 2 ending certainly stuck the landing – and had viewers looking towards the future in anticipation of what’s next from the League of Legends universe. Linke, though, told us any new project is “years” away.
He said, “It takes time – depending on if it’s a series or a movie. We’re exploring both in many, many directions. A lot of it comes down to finding the right people, the right vision, the right idea, the right story. That’ll take years and once we have confidence that something’s happening, we’ll talk more about it.”
Arcane season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
For more, read our interview with Christian Linke on future plans for a League of Legends project. Then dive into our picks for the best shows on Netflix and best movies on Netflix.