Video game adaptations have become a big part of the recent media landscape, and you can catch a lot of them on Netflix. Together with the original Castlevania series, Riot Games and Fortiche’s Arcane became a major, award-winning event that quickly became a standout in terms of adaptation, animation and League of Legends. Season two arrives on November 9.

io9 recently had the chance to speak with co-creator Christian Linke, who revealed that production on the second season began just before the pandemic. A lot has changed between then and now, but what hasn’t changed are his goals for the show and its future.

To use Arcane Bringing “real drama” into animation has always been a core focus for Riot and Fortiche, which Linke and fellow co-creator Alex Yee talked about during the first season’s behind-the-scenes videos. Making sure the “characters and drama feel real” was just as important for this new season, and Linke went on to say that the crew strived to push animation forward and embrace the medium’s strengths. “Animation can do anything,” he noted. “If you don’t experiment, why would you do animation at all?”

Game adaptations can be a difficult undertaking and, in Linke’s view, pose an “additional challenge” compared to adapting a book or film. It is not only the case that games are an interactive medium, but the way in which the characters of a game are perceived also plays a role. He noted that what a player does with a character “becomes part of how they are understood and viewed,” both within and outside their community. But to really get to know a character, you have to know where they come from: Linke said playing a game is “vital” to the adaptation process because there is an “aspect of authenticity that is impossible to replace ‘.

Pre-Arcaan, Fortiche and Riot collaborated on several music videos League of Legends, the best known of these was ‘Get Jinxed’, in which Linke himself was involved. The show doesn’t exist without that partnership, and he said that “just hiring someone with a lot of talent and money (wouldn’t) do the trick.” Not that this was ever in question, but he was candid in his call Arcane a “selfish” endeavor because it let Riot “do something for ourselves in an authentic way.” This is the show that We wanted to see.”

Our interview with Linke took place prior to a recent Variety story claiming both seasons Arcane cost a combined $250 million to make. That same report claimed that Riot was struggling to get other shows off the ground, including a would-be live-action miniseries. At the time of our conversation, Linke said that any potential animated successor would see Riot evolve as a studio. The goal is for future shows within that specific medium to have their own artistic style and be tailored “to the stories we specifically want to tell.” League of Legends has a lot of characters to draw from, and determining what they look like (and how stylized or realistic they should be) are discussed at Riot.

Competition turned 15 in October, and Linke compared Riot’s approach to adapting its characters to what Marvel is currently doing outside of comics. The studio can look at fan discussions, the series of music videos, and even the spin-off games under the short-lived Riot Forge label as a way to gauge interest in who will use the animation next. “It all comes down to what we want to focus on: What is our Iron Man or Thor?” he asked.

Every project, he continued, should include three things: “What we think our audience will love, what we personally think is cool, and what our team is good at. (…) If you are not the right person for something, you should not do it, even if it makes sense to the audience.”

Arcanes the first trio of season two episodes will arrive on Netflix on November 9, followed by “Act Two” on November 16 and “Act Three” on November 23.

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