Riot Games co-founder Mark Merrill revealed that Arcane Season 3 was canceled because the team wanted to explore other universes, denying that they wanted to pull out of entertainment.
Despite Arcane being one of the most expensive animated series ever made, it’s also one of the most successful. Both Season 1 and 2 topped the Netflix charts upon release, with both series fans and newcomers enjoying what the League of Legends universe had to offer.
Though many were disappointed by the news that Arcane wouldn’t be getting a Season 3, Mark Merrill confirmed why in a reply to a fan.
“Cuz there are lots of other stories to tell,” was what he had to say. It’s hard to argue with that, seeing as the world behind League of Legends is massive. He also claimed that he’d be willing to invest more into League of Legends lore within the game itself if the team is “able to hit the right bar.”
Seeing as League of Legends is pretty far behind Arcane in terms of storytelling, further investment into the game’s lore would surely be appreciated by those who play it. But, in another reply, Merrill gave us a reason to be optimistic about another TV series coming as well.
In an article from Variety, Mark Merrill was quoted as saying:
“Our ambitions in entertainment haven’t changed. We were never intending to operate like a traditional studio with traditional timelines. What did change as we learned more was our expectations of ourselves: We realized that getting it right takes a lot more time than we’d originally expected, and so we recalibrated our development, output goals, and teams with that in mind.”
He also said not to listen to “naysayers” when it came to how much Arcane cost to make and it potentially deterring Riot from making other series, leaving the door open for a new TV show in the League of Legends universe. It might just be a while until it sees the light of day.