Arcane Creator Says There's More to Discover About Jinx
Thousands of Arcane fans flock into the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, awaiting the series finale of the animated Netflix sensation. A moment nearly three years in the making, many fans were looking for answers as to how the show would be able to close the Piltover and Zaun chapter. However, as each moment passed, that anticipation grew before finally breaking when Arcane co-creators Alex Yee and Christian Linke walked out onto the stage to introduce the Arcane series finale.
Each introduction was followed by a roar of cheers before sharing their final words before the viewing of what would finally close the door on this passion project.
For Christian Linke, that moment was one that he noted as one of the highlight moments of his career.
“I’ve worked on many things for League of Legends, but I will say this is probably the strongest emotional connection or reaction with our audience,” Linke stated.
Related Article: Will Arcane Have a Season 3?
Arcane’s Immediate Rise
Arcane first premiered on November 6, 2021, on Netflix, where its first three episodes immediately drew a wide assortment of viewers into the show, where some cited it as a “once-in-a-generation” type of show. The nine-year journey of developing the story and characters of Arcane was one that Linke had hoped would turn out great and is one that he is still processing and is finally over.
“I’m still processing everything and it hasn’t sunk in yet but it kind of makes it all worth knowing you spent so many years working on this project,” Linke told Esports Illustrated.
In addition to the six years it took viewers to get to see the first season of Arcane, three years stood between Season One and Two, which worried Linke immediately after working on the first season.
“Most TV shows lose half of their audience between Season One and Two so we didn’t know how many would come back,” Linke said.
As a result, Arcane took some extra time to make sure everything was as good as it could be without waiting too long between seasons. When asked about the day-to-day process for the show’s production, Linke highlighted several different responsibilities needed to ensure everything was in place.
“Most days would start at 7 or 8 am just going over the latest animations, storyboarding, music tracks, and design,” Linke stated. “Afternoons would be dedicated to doing work with the LA team and our mornings would be set aside for also working with the team in France. It was a lot of different tasks to balance to make this all happen.”
The day-to-day creation of Arcane was one that nearly cost Riot Games $250 million to complete across its 18 episodes.
Yet, despite this longer absence from released episodes, Arcane fans still stood strong, awaiting the next set of episodes. Linke stated that this was a very special moment for him.
“We really put our heart and soul into these characters and we love them all. We love the game they’re based on and it was amazing to see how many people felt the same way we do about these characters.”
What’s Next After Arcane?
One of the biggest talking points following the conclusion of Arcane has been about what League of Legends universe will receive a show next. In an interview with Necrit94, Linke revealed that the team was exploring heavily into Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia.
“We love telling these characters stories, and we always focus on the characters that we love and that we are passionate about, and a lot of them are from Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia,” Linke said. “It’s hard to say which ones will be the focus next because there are a lot of characters with a big following.”
While Linke was hesitant to elaborate further on who would exactly receive focus next, he did highlight that the team was one year into the process of creating their next show and that it also takes approximately one to two years to fully develop these main characters stories.
“It takes a while, I worked on Jinx for 2-3 years just developing her as a character and I still don’t even feel like I know everything about her,” Linke shared. “There’s still things to discover about her.”
When asked why so much time was spent on character development, he shared
“You need to start with a surface level and then you go deeper and deeper. Over time you start to understand more of their characteristics and get answers to these other questions.”
“It takes a while, I worked on Jinx for 2-3 years and I still don’t feel like I know everything about her. There’s still things to discover about her.”
Linke's Final Thoughts
Towards the end of the interview, Linke was asked when he knew a show was good enough to be seen by viewers
“When time’s up,” Linke laughed. “But it’s true. There’s this saying that art is never finished, only abandoned and I think that’s especially true for Arcane.”
What made Arcane and its characters so special to Linke was that it was an open-ended story. It was one where he knew these characters' stories were not over, but for himself, it was time for him to leave each character to their own devices and work on something new.
For now, Linke will enjoy this time away from Arcane’s conclusion as he sets his sights on the team’s next animated project. While there are no details as to when that next story will be released, fans can be assured that the next League of Legends series will be in good hands.
Those looking for more Arcane articles like this should be sure to check out our piece detailing the clues of Jinx’s whereabouts at the end of the second season.
Additionally, Arcane fans looking for their next binge following the Arcane series finale should also be sure to check out out piece highlighting the 10 best shows like Arcane.
Sage got his start in esports as a volunteer writer in 2016 for esports organization, Dignitas. Since then, he has continued to work on his craft as a journalist and reporter for a number of established esports publications, such as esports.gg, Unikrn, Akshon Esports, Howla, The Player’s Lobby, Nerd Street Gamers, and most recently Dot Esports. Now, as a member of Esports Illustrated’s content team, Sage’s primary duties are centered around creating groundbreaking written and video content about the esports industry that impacts the community in a meaningful way. Sage graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and Informatics. There, he was a member of the Rutgers Esports Executive Board, both as the head of the fighting game community and a videographer/photographer for the Content team.