Riot reportedly planning more League of Legends shows after Arcane success

Riot Games have confirmed they’re already planning to make more League of Legends shows and even live-action movies in their Runeterra cinematic universe after the immense early success of “Arcane” and its three-episode Netflix premiere. Arcane finally arrived on Saturday, November 6 — months late due to major delays — and is already wreaking havoc on the gaming world and the entire internet. The show focuses on Vi and Powder (later Jinx), as well as supporting characters such as future Piltover sheriff Caitlyn, scientific geniuses Jayce, Viktor, and little Yordle Heimerdinger, and gangsters Silco and Singed.

Only three episodes have been released, with six more due in the next two weeks, but the early Arcane offerings have already made a big impression in the LoL fandom and beyond; the show debuted at the top spot on Netflix in more than 30 countries, the streaming giant revealed this week. Riot has already confirmed that more shows will be added due to the overwhelming success of the event.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Riot’s president of entertainment Shauna Spenley revealed that the League of Legends universe would be expanding significantly over the next few years, with “more to come” on big and small screens.

‘WE HAVE A HUGE OPPORTUNITY’

“I don’t think Hollywood realizes how massive this all is,” she said. “I think we have a huge opportunity to build amazing organic stories inside this world [Runeterra] and for it to quietly build and become the IP that defines a generation. We’ll be here a while: it’s going to take a little time,” Spenley added.

Riot’s plan to expand into more animated series, live-action films, and eventually their own “Runeterra Cinematic Universe” a la the ever-expanding Marvel mega-empire isn’t a half-baked plot concocted in the aftermath of Arcane’s early success. Riot hired two key roles to launch their cinematic universe at the time: a Global Head of Live-Action Film (think Kevin Feige at Marvel) and a Global Head of Live-Action TV. These roles have joined Spenley, who believes that any future forays into the small screen or even theatres “must be built properly.”

“Players can tell. They’re looking for elements they can identify with. We’re trying to figure out how to recreate that as we step into live-action and other stories,” Spenley said.

Along with confirming that more shows and movies are in the works at Riot Games, Spenley also promised something that League of Legends fans will be excited — if not relieved — to hear. That is, the League Cinematic Universe will not be concerned with pleasing everyone. The ten-year-old title has a ready-made fandom eager for any Runeterra stories, and co-founder Marc Merrill knows it: he’s told the teams to “focus on the millions of people playing the game.”