Arcane ending after Season 2 is sad but the right choice

Years after the Netflix series’ 2021 premiere, we got solid news about Arcane’s future on June 11, 2024. However, it wasn’t what we expected (or wanted): co-showrunner Christian Linke abruptly revealed we’re in the endgame now.

Arcane Season 2 will finish the League of Legends adaptation, with Riot and Netflix looking to expand their creative partnership and pursue other ideas from the game’s repertoire.

Considering Arcane is one of the service’s best TV shows, boasting an engaged following and bulletproof critical reception, the news took us for a loop.

The natural reaction is to ruffle against Jinx, Vi, and their organic world being ripped away so quickly after enrapturing us, but on closer inspection, it’s the smart, creative choice.

Two sisters, two seasons

Netflix

Arcane’s foundation is duality. Jinx/Powder are opposing forces in one traumatized shell; Jinx and Vi are two sides of the same coin, reacting to a cruel reality in wildly different ways; Piltover is a blue-skied haven of futurism and Hex-tech, while the underbelly of Zaun is left to choke on smog and Shimmer.

Everything from Jinx and Vi’s blue vs red character design to the class struggle is baked into the overarching picture of lines in the sand — two trenches, each muddied by corruption, fallacies, and extremism.

Arcane Season 1 was split into three arcs to create an effective release structure, but Vander’s death and the following time jump also split the narrative down the middle.

Powder’s harrowing error in Episode 3 is a defining moment that ran scissors up the seams of the walls and cracked the universe into two distinct halves.

Arcane’s puzzle pieces come in pairs: two sisters, two points in time, two competing philosophies, and now two chapters. Tying a ribbon around it all with a couple of succinct seasons honors this through line, and allows the writers to throw everything at the wall.

Riot knows when to call it quits

When The Boys’ creator Eric Kripke announced (on the same day, no less) that the superhero TV show would finish after Season 5, fans voiced relief.

It’s an example of vague moving goalposts having negative ripple effects: memes about the series spinning its wheels and delaying the inevitable Homelander takedown have been making the rounds for years… not ideal.

A clear, communicated plan based on what’s creatively justified rather than any other metric is more rewarding. Everyone has a favorite movie, book, or show that didn’t know when to put the pen down — it’s a tested method to rust legacy and smother hype.

If you had something as excellent as Arcane in your pocket and voices in your ear telling you your blood, sweat, and tears were worth it, the idea of expanding it for as long as possible would be seductive. Especially since it was a labor of love born out of a long-term passion for LoL’s world and champions.

But you can indulge in too much of a good thing, and the talented folks behind the scenes are well aware of that difficult pill. And if Jinx has taught us anything, it’s that sometimes you need to let go.

By declaring a finish line and sticking to it, every arc can come to fruition, and each nurtured thread can find its natural conclusion. This way, Arcane’s affecting musings on legacy, bruised hearts, and psychological damage can be bottled at their most potent.

Knowing what’s in its deck, Arcane playing all its cards and going full throttle will be exhilarating. Give it to me, like yesterday.

This is the end, friend, yes, the end

Netflix

Season 1 finished in a world-changing manner when a now-lost Jinx attacked the Piltover council. Jaws were on the floor because while it was a cliffhanger in regards to which characters would survive, a different kind of fuse had been lit while the rocket streaked across the sky.

In retrospect, that moment, which ends frozen in time as the rocket’s nose pierces the chamber’s glass, splitting off into cracks in every direction, telegraphs the beginning of the end.

Jinx realized there could be no return to her old life, to the old love in it, and committed to the grey, destructive psyche driving her. The attack itself wasn’t unforeseen, but it was shocking because the viewer understood it was the point of no return for her soul.

Watching the Season 1 finale with the knowledge Season 2 is the last, it becomes clear it paved the way for finality.

Hit me, baby, one more time

While Season 1 was a tug of war and fates hanging in the balance — Jinx’s potential for redemption, Vi siding with Piltover or Zaun, Jayce, and Mel changing the course of history by manipulating the odds in their favor — Season 2 is the resulting trainwreck.

The new episodes deal with circumstances that can’t be changed. Jinx can’t undo the attack, Vi cannot justify saving her to the world’s detriment, and Caitlyn is on a path of vengeance that’s out of character.

It’ll be gut-wrenching, but isn’t that what we’re here for? Arcane is amazing because it’s built around character drama.

As much as it weaves in Hex-tech, politics, and in-universe depth, it’s mostly about feelings — and oh boy, there are lots of them.

Jinx voice actor Ella Purnell told us to prepare for a “devastating” Arcane Season 2 finale. If fictional emotional turmoil wasn’t my catnip, I’d be terrified.

Our favorite blue-haired loose cannon being mercy killed or a similarly brain-altering conclusion is not off the cards, but neither is a path to healing.

Half-measures are not the move here, and Arcane isn’t the show to pour them. Go out with a bang and put the story to rest, even if it means deaths, cynical outcomes, and morally gray character choices.

Banger incoming

Netflix

Mixed with the mourning is a bright spark of hope. The skilled writers, electric voice acting, and Fortiche’s meticulous attention to detail means we’re in capable hands.

There’s always the chance we could leave off feeling like there was more story to be told, or that Season 2 couldn’t live up to the first’s dazzling quality, but there’s not any evidence we should worry. Every way you slice it, the timing feels right.

A story you’re invested in ending is always going to sting. It should. Exceptional characters and world-building envelop you in their themes and relationships.

Wanting to hold onto Arcane and live with it for longer is evidence it’s special. You can’t miss something you never had in the first place.

Here’s hoping we get to look back on the ride as an impactful, heavy-hitting tale that pulled no punches from start to finish (Vi would dig that!). It may leave a scar, but all the best stories do.

Arcane Season 2 releases in November 2024.

For more, find out why fans aren’t sad about the Arcane Season 2 trailer bad news, who is Warwick in LoL, our thoughts on how Singed accidentally becomes LoL’s most important character, and how Riot transformed Silco from Arcane antagonist to TFT mastermind.