For me, Arcane Season 2 rates a solid eight out of ten. While Act 1 begins with a bang and ends with the high-stakes Jinx versus Vi moment we’d all been waiting for, Act 2 loses the momentum a little, and Act 3 feels rushed. My concern coming out of Episode 6 was that it felt like there wasn’t enough time to wrap up all of Act 2’s loose threads, and while Act 3 largely does so, it feels a little scattered. Rumors have swirled that the original cut of the finale clocked in at an hour and a half long, sparking disappointment as players consider, to borrow Sting’s words, what could have been. Riot, however, has responded to those claims.
According to an interview with Dexerto, the original cut of the Arcane Season 2 finale was supposed to clock in at “over an hour long,” but production company Fortiche responded with “we can’t do this.” As a result, the team began to “chisel away from there.”
It’s an image that’s gone viral on X (formerly Twitter), with the MOBA‘s fanbase lamenting where things could have gone. For me, the Ambessa fight scene could have felt a little more epic, the ending could have felt a little more conclusive, and it would have been really cool to catch a glimpse of Noxus – especially given showrunner Christian ‘Praeco’ Linke’s teasing that the region will appear in a new League of Legends project.
Linke has since responded to the backlash the comments appear to have prompted, noting that Riot did not ask Fortiche to create a 90 minute long finale, nor was the 50-minute episode a result of “‘corporate greed’ pressure.”
“No, we didn’t ask Fortiche to produce a 1hr 30 final episode. It’s quite the opposite, our scripts are always shorter than what Fortiche ends up proposing in the story board phase. We wanna let them get inspired and roam free, so we can then reel it in while also allowing for the magical moments to find themselves.
“It’s a tight creative collaboration, not some sort of ‘alright vendor company, do your work, achieve the impossible, but do it quickly!’ – I consider many of the people at Fortiche to be some of my closest friends. I find it disappointing that people suggest these things. No, we didn’t get ‘corporate greed’ pressure or anything.”
He goes on to state that “there are always constraints” and that “it would have been great to have more time to work on this second season, or extra time to add to the episodes, but we didn’t have it.” Citing budget (in its current iteration, Arcane already cost $250 million to make) and time as the major mitigating factors, he concludes that “Our Season 2 is amazing. We have made you feel more than you’ve ever felt when watching animated characters.
“It’s not perfect. You don’t take these types of hefty swings and expect that everything wraps up perfectly with a neat bow tie. It grows and evolves in its own way, and it becomes what it becomes.
“Has any TV series ever successfully stuck the landing with this many main characters, time travel, supernatural abilities, technological inventions, fantasy world stakes, high concepts, complex relationships and global expectations?” he asks. “I actually don’t know. Would be quite curious to know if folks can think of any, so I can study them.”
In my Arcane Season 2 Act 1 review, I state that the sequel is “somehow already better than the first season.” It’s a statement I still agree with: Season 2 broadens the scope of the action, and varies up the soundtrack to feel completely different. I don’t think adding an extra 40 or so minutes to the finale would completely wrap up the lingering questions we have; I think that’s something future iterations of Arcane will do instead, and I’m looking forward to that.
If you’re looking to relive parts of Arcane in-game, check out our rundown of Jinx Fixes Everything Act 3 to ensure you secure your free Singed skin. Alternatively, if Jinx and Vi’s saga of strife has nudged you back onto the Rift, here’s our LoL tier list to ensure you’re locking in the right champs for the job.
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