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The final season of Arcane will undoubtedly solidify the Netflix series as a standout in video game adaptations. However, the show’s final acts have critics and fans alike concerned over its rushed pace toward its conclusion. Now, the show’s co-creator has broken his silence and promises Riot Games and Fortiche’s future shows will learn from Arcane‘s shortcomings.
Speaking with Techradar, Arcane creator Christian Linke acknowledged a vocal minority of fans’ hard feelings over the show’s uneven pace—suggesting the Emmy award-winning series’ second season could have been improved with longer episodes or an additional season to allow more space for story development and character arcs.
“I understand them. I also respect people feel that way. We need to listen and learn from it,” Linke told Techradar. “We’re making this for an audience of people, not just ourselves [but] it’s hard. On one side, the vast majority of people seem to like the way that it is, which is great. There are also some people saying it’s rushed [and] there’s too much going on, and I understand that.”
He continued: “For people who tuned in to watch season two, having loved season one, I can see how they could’ve been disappointed, because there’s a specific pace and a specific way we did things in season one. Yeah, we changed it for season two— we wanted to do things a little differently in season two. So, yeah, I understand that, I respect that, and I want to learn from that.”
Many fans’ complaints hinge on the season’s second and third acts. While many of Arcane‘s characters arrived at a logical conclusion to their stories, their journey getting there felt truncated. The result of this led to exciting storylines like Caitlyn’s heel turn getting nipped in the bud off-screen via a time skip as well as a Marvel Cinematic Universe-esque ending that expanded the lens of Runterra’s cosmic world—making the ensuing drama of its own story feel left behind.
In a separate exclusive interview with GamesRadar+, Linke confirmed fans’ suspicions over the show’s haggard pacing, saying the finale was originally going to be longer before they were forced to make cuts.
“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 told GamesRadar+.
As GamesRadar+ notes, Linke was reluctant to pinpoint what was left on the cutting room floor, but he conceded that much of it was action sequences. (As we learned from his interview with League of Legends streamer Necrit, the team also had to cut Caitlyn Kiramman and Vi’s love scene short to prevent the show from having an even more mature rating.) But Linke didn’t leave folks high and dry with news on what could have been. At the end of his interview with GamesRadar+, Linke revealed that Riot Games and Fortiche’s upcoming League of Legends series are still years away.
“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,” Linke said. “That’ll take years and once we have confidence that something’s happening, we’ll talk more about it.”
All episodes of Arcane season two are streaming on Netflix.
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