Arcane season 2: cast, potential plot and what we know so far

Arcane season 2 is on the way. And, for fans of Riot Games’ beloved League of Legends (LoL) gaming franchise and Netflix’s animated TV adaptation, that won’t come as a surprise.

Since making its debut on November 6, Netflix subscribers have watched a total of 102.25 million hours of Arcane season 1. That unexpected success saw Arcane beat Cowboy Bebop and Tiger King season 2 – two Netflix heavyweights – for the top spot in Netflix’s TV rankings in mid-November. No small feat for a TV series that wasn’t on many people’s radars ahead of its release.

Now, though, Arcane season 2 is one of Netflix’s most hotly anticipated shows. Its gorgeous graphics, pulsating action sequences and stellar soundtrack wowed fans and critics alike. Add in its emotionally resonant storylines, unique spin on treasured LoL characters, and its accessibility to established fans and newcomers, and Arcane’s second season can’t come soon enough.

You may wonder, then, when Arcane season 2 will be released. And you’re probably dying to know which characters will return, what season 2’s plot will entail and more. Below, you’ll find out everything you need to know about Arcane’s second season on Netflix. So let’s waste no more time and find out.

Arcane season 2 release date

Arcane season 2 release date: 2023?

There’s no official release date for Arcane season 2 yet. We know it’s on the way, though, after the show’s return was announced following the season 1 finale: 

The above teaser doesn’t give anything away, apart from revealing that season 2 is in production and that three season 1 characters will return (more on this later). Still, we’re delighted that Arcane is getting a second outing. It certainly deserves one and, if its final episode is anything to go by, there are plenty of plot threads that need to be picked up (or resolved) in Arcane season 2.

But when will it return to Netflix? Right now, that’s hard to say as we don’t know how far along season 2 is. But don’t expect it to arrive in 2022, according to Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent, who tweeted that the next entry in the series won’t be ready for next year:

Expect Arcane season 2 to drop sometime in 2023, then. We’re happy to wait, though: the show evidently needs lots of care and attention to make it as good as it is, and rushing it will only make for a poor follow-up. Hopefully, season 2 will be with us in early 2023 but, even if it isn’t, we’d happily wait until December 31, 2023 for the season 2 premiere. 

Arcane season 2 plot

Arcane season 2 plot: what’s the story about?

Spoilers follow for Arcane season 1 episode 9. You have been warned.

If you’ve watched Arcane’s first season, you’ll know that some characters may not be back for its next batch of episodes. That’s because, during the season 1 finale, Jinx fired an arcane crystal rocket at Piltover’s council chamber with many main and supporting characters trapped inside. Those present in the chamber when the rocket exploded included Jayce, Mel, Cassandra, Hoskel, Bolbok, Shoola and Salo.

And we don’t expect all of those individuals to survive. If we had to guess, we’d say Mel and Cassandra, at the very least, will have perished or been severely injured. That would give Jayce and Caitlyn a major incentive to pursue Jinx, as Mel and Cassandra are Jayce’s partner and Caitlyn’s mother, respectively.

So we suspect that Arcane season 2 will see Jayce walk back on his promise to give Zaun its independence from Piltover, especially now that Jinx (a Zaun citizen) carried out a terrorist attack on the latter’s council. 

Caitlyn, too, could be out for revenge if her mother was hurt or killed, which would put her at odds with Vi, whom Caitlyn had become close with. The latter is Jinx’s sister, after all, so Vi will likely be caught in a difficult situation: help Caitlyn and Jayce to bring her sister to justice, or try to ‘save’ Jinx from herself, which would put her in opposition with Caitlyn and Jayce.

Suffice to say, expect the brewing war between Piltover and Zaun to take center stage in Arcane season 2. Tensions were already simmering between the two nations throughout the show’s first season, and we wouldn’t be surprised if a full-blown conflict begins as a result of Jinx’s attack on Piltover’s council.

As for other story threads that Arcane season 2 will need to deal with, we’re expecting to see Heimerdinger and Ekko continue to work together to help the undercity. With the former voted off Piltover’s council in season 1 episode 7, he bumped into an injured Ekko on the streets of Zaun in episode 8. The pair bond over their shared love of technology and, after Heimerdinger helps Ekko to return home, the duo decide to collaborate and try to ease Zaun’s suffering.

We’ll also need to see whether Viktor will completely lose himself completely to his Hextech research. He’s already inadvertently murdered his childhood friend Sky as a result of his Hexcore studies, and it appears that he’ll  walk a darker path in season 2. If we know anything about LoL lore, there’s every chance that we could see Viktor use Hextech to cybernetically enhance his body further and become the LoL champion that diehard LoL fans know him to be.

Arcane season 2 cast

Arcane season 2 cast: who is returning?

Again, there’s no confirmation on this front. But, based on the teaser above, we’re confident that a trio of female characters will be back for Arcane’s sequel: 

• Hailee Steinfeld as Vi
• Ella Purnell as Jinx
• Katie Leung as Caitlyn

As the above tweet’s video suggests, Vi, Jinx and Caitlyn will all be back for Arcane season 2. We hear the trio’s voices at various points in the teaser and, given that all three watched on during that explosive season 1 finale, rather than being present in the room, we know that they’re safe from harm and should return for season 2.

So who else may return? That’ll depend on who survives the Piltover council chamber attack. As we said earlier, we think that Mel and/or Cassandra could be casualties of Jinx’s strike, while any of the other council members may die or be injured, too. We would expect Jayce to survive, though. He has a bigger role to play, in our view, and he’ll no doubt want to bring Jinx to justice for her crimes.

Additionally, we think Ekko, Heimerdinger and Viktor will be back for season 2. The trio weren’t part of the council chamber attack, so they should return and we’ll see how their character arcs progress in Arcane’s second season.

There are likely to be new faces introduced in season 2 as well. There were plenty of deaths in Arcane’s first outing – Silco, Vander and Marcus to name three – so there’s a need for new supporting characters. We have no idea who might show up, but there are lots of LoL heroes and villains that Riot, Netflix and Fortiche Productions can pull from the game franchise’s universe and use for the animated series.

Arcane season 2 trailer

Arcane season 2 trailer: is there one?

No, and it’ll be a while before we see one. Once one is released, we’ll update this section. 

Arcane season 2 future

Arcane season 2: does it deserve another outing?

Yes, clearly. The show holds a 100% ‘fresh’ rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes among critics, while it also has a 97% ‘fresh’ rating based on audience reviews, too.

Given its critical acclaim and popularity, Arcane season 2 was a formality. That may not have been the case ahead of release but, as soon as Netflix saw how well it was performing, it was only a matter of time before the company renewed it for a second outing.

There’s plenty of story left to tell, character arcs to tie up, and new individuals and champions to introduce, so Arcane will never be out of ideas from plot or character development perspectives. We’re also big fans of Fortiche’s visuals for the animated series, too, so we’d be happy to see many more instalments in the TV show.