Riot taps former Netflix exec to run live-action studio after Arcane success

Riot Games announced a restructuring of its executives on August 14 and revealed that a former Netflix employee will lead its live-action studio.

The developer behind League of Legends and the animated Netflix hit Arcane said that its TV and film development will be led by two dedicated studios, one for animation and one for live-action endeavors.

Brian Wright will lead the live-action studio. Wright previously worked for Netflix as the head of family and young adult programming. During his tenure at the streaming company, he oversaw shows like Stranger Things, The Umbrella Academy, and Fuller House.

He joined Riot’s fledgling entertainment studio in 2021 before the release of Arcane and was in charge of leading strategies for programming original films, TV series, and animation.

The announcement comes just ahead of the release of Arcane’s second and final season. The animated show has been a hit with League of Legends fans and general audiences on Netflix.

Fortiche/Netflix

Riot hasn’t dipped its toes into live-action shows and programming outside its esports broadcasts and the Paramount+ series Players. The one-season series was a satire of Riot’s esports competition following a fictional League of Legends team and was not considered a smash success like Arcane.

The show received favorable reviews but didn’t reach mainstream audiences in the same way as the animated series. Players was eventually removed from Paramount+ and released for free on the Funny to Die YouTube channel.

Potential projects coming out of the new studio have yet to be announced. Riot has shown a propensity for trying out different genres in media like music and games, so fans of the studio shouldn’t expect its next live-action project to be another mockumentary series.

While Riot has a relationship with Netflix, signing a deal for the distribution of Arcane and its mobile games Dungeon Dwarves and Hextech Mayhem, there’s no guarantee these live-action shows won’t go up on a different streaming service.