Netflix has released the official trailer for Arcane, the League of Legends animated series, bringing the world's biggest game to the world's biggest streaming service. Coming to Netflix this fall, Arcane will tell the origin stories of League of Legends characters Jinx and Vi alongside the stories of Caitlyn, Jayce, and Viktor.
These are characters from the dueling cities of Piltover and Zaun. Piltover is a gleaming metropolis of magical technology, while Zaun is the polluted undercity in the canyons beneath it. The two cities were once united, but are now separate.
As an animated series it's pretty impressive work, using flat colors on 3D models to give a painted or drawn look. It's reminiscent of the kind of work that made Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse such a visually striking movie. It'll probably be worth a look for animation enthusiasts, even if they don't know anything about League.
Originally scheduled to release in 2020, Arcane was delayed due to unavoidable production issues. The series was financed by League developer Riot so that Riot maintained creative control, and it's intended to deepen the lore of the League universe. Like the game, it's aimed at a teenage and older audience.
- League of Legends' new season trailer is basically an epilogue to Arcane with 6 new Fortiche champion redesigns in it—so if it's not a preview of the upcoming Noxus show, I'll eat my hat
- Riot's co-founder says money isn't everything: 'People think we make things like Arcane to sell skins when in reality, we sell skins to make things like Arcane'
