Arcane Is Riot’s Attempt At MCU Glory

Arcane is officially locked in for a release sometime this Fall, and I cannot wait. As shown on today’s Netflix Geeked presentation, the series will mark Riot’s first stab at TV shows based in their popular League of Legends universe. Don’t be fooled, this is a major play by Riot Games.

For the last few years, Riot has expanded their reach from a hit MOBA into the esports space, before journeying into music, then comic books, and now film. If they can find the success they experienced with KDA, look out. They’ll be positioned to take a stab at creating the MCU of the gaming world.

What’s It About?

As of now, we still have precious few details about the actual story. However, the trailer we saw does allow us to hazard a few guesses. For one, we can say with relative certainty that the story will focus on Jinx and Vi. And we seem to have finally gotten confirmation that they are sisters. This has been speculated at since they were introduced into League of Legends years ago.

But the series is unlikely to be just about these two. My best guess is they will be the vessel for a story told about the cities they inhabit, Piltover and Zaun. For those not in the know, Piltover and Zaun were built on top of one another, and were at one time, a single city. Piltover was the shining beacon or order and control, while unchecked progress ran amok in the undercity.

This undercity was eventually split off entirely, and became the festering den of chaos known as Zaun. I am now entering the realm of speculation, but I believe the series will begin with Jinx and Vi as young children of Piltover. A tragic accident of some sort will lead to them having to live in Zaun, where they’ll turn to crime. At some point, Vi will leave and join Sheriff Caitlyn of Piltover, leaving the psychotic and shimmer-addicted Jinx to wreak havoc.

Do I Need To Play The Game To Watch Arcane?

As always, League of Legends rarely spells anything out to blatantly. They hint at a ton, without ever really sharing the whole story. So yes, I think people who played League and followed the lore will get more out of this than those who didn’t. But no, I don’t think you’ll need to play the game to enjoy Arcane. Afterall, I summed up the whole of what we know going into the show in 3 paragraphs.

Furthermore, I think this is just the first of many shows we’ll see in Runeterra. Netflix could have a proverbial grand slam on their hands if this show does well. Think of the series and movies that could spring up out of this. Noxus vs. Demacia, the Shadow Isles, Bilgewater, a whole legion of League of Legends shows based on the different areas of the game.

The animation style is gorgeous, the source material is interesting, and Netflix has shown they can make gaming content work with Castlevania. Anyway you slice it, you should be getting excited for Fall.

Images courtesy of Netflix and Riot Games