Summary

Collider’s Laura Adams talks with Arcane showrunner Christian Linke, co-director Bathelemy Maunory, and co-executive producer Amanda Overton for Season 2.

Arcane Season 2 had impactful music integrated early into the creative process, enhancing visual scenes.

The trio discuss how the show explores alternate realities, complex relationships, and characters like Heimerdinger, and how the League of Legends IP offers endless storytelling possibilities, with potential for more.

From its visually stunning scenes and sequences to its dramatic and impactful music, Arcane captivated the hearts of both League of Legends gamers and newcomers alike, becoming one of the best Netflix original series and pushing the boundaries of what could be achieved with animation on television. While the show may have ended in December 2024, the minds behind the League of Legends adaptation are far from finished with this story.
Recently, Collider had the chance to sit down with showrunner Christian Linke, co-director Barthelemy Maunoury, and co-executive producer Amanda Overton to discuss some of the most impactful scenes of Season 2, Heimerdinger’s (Mick Wingert) whereabouts, Jinx (Ella Purnell) and Ekko (Reed Shannon), and the future of the show. You can read the full conversation below.
Having the Music Early Helped the Creative Process of ‘Arcane’ Season 2

“All the artists and the animators could be inspired by the actual music.”

COLLIDER: I feel like the soundtrack of Arcane is such an integral part of the show’s identity, and I love how seamlessly it integrates with the visual elements of each scene. So I wanted to know, out of the 20 original songs that you guys had in Season 2, which stood out as your favorite and why?
CHRISTIAN LINKE: Oh, that’s a tough one. There’s a lot of them. I don’t know. Do you have a favorite one?
BARTHELEMY MAUNOURY: Well, as a French guy, I will pick Stromae’s [“Ma Meilleure Ennemie.”]
AMANDA OVERTON: As a lesbian, I will pick “Fantastic.”
LINKE: What do I choose?
OVERTON: You can’t choose between your children!
LINKE: Yeah, it’s tough. I mean, there’s so many great songs, it’s impossible for me. It kind of depends; I rotate. I mean, there’s really impactful ones. I honestly couldn’t pick one. It was really fun to work on. The music team really did something special. It’s crazy to think about how deep we went on every individual cue. I can’t pick one, but I’m very proud of what the team has done. You know, the volume of music was staggering.
MAUNOURY: Yeah, and also the chance we had on Season 2 was to have the music earlier in the process, so you know, this integration with the visual was also because of that, which is quite rare in this industry. So that way all the artists and the animators could be inspired by the actual music that’s gonna be at the end in the show while they were doing their art.
I know exactly what you mean. Usually, my favorite song from the season is the one with Powder and Ekko’s dance, but yesterday it was “Heavy is the Crown,” so you switch depending on your mood, I guess. Talking about that particular scene, I bet you guys know that a lot of fans agree that that was one of the most epic scenes in Season 2. So, Christian, what was it like working with Stromae and Pomme on such an epic song?
LINKE: Honestly, I think what’s so interesting about some of these very impactful songs and moments in general is that there’s not a single one that was easy. You know, so much plays into it. I mean, even just getting to a place where you have a relationship with the artists. I think we were very lucky. We started talking to Stromae and his team, and they were very involved. The lyrics are really, really, really special. With Pomme as well. You only get that when the artist really cares and really listens, like: “Hey, here’s what the story is about. Here’s what the moment is about.” We’re very lucky with Stromae, but his brother, Luke, really was someone who also made it happen in a way. He really facilitated this creative process. That’s how the magic happens. But the song was quite different from the initial kind of creative direction of the moment. Do you wanna talk about it?
MAUNOURY: Yeah, again, luckily we had this music early enough for the artists to be inspired by that actual music. For instance, you know, the way the two characters dance is inspired by the music, and we very quickly decided that they shouldn’t dance like professionals, you know, they should look authentic and like teenagers. So being able to have this song earlier in the process was very fun to play with, and we could, as animators, shoot some references of dancing in a dorky way, and that felt right. So that’s why we had so much fun working with that song.
LINKE: Yeah, it was special. It wasn’t easy. It’s like when you know the scene is gonna be important and you have to make something great, and it’s like, “Okay, how do you plan that?”, you know, and like, great creativity kind of just happens. And so it’s really, really hard, but sometimes you’re lucky.

Image via Netflix

Amanda, now that we’re talking about this scene, I want to ask about their relationship. Do the romantic feelings between Powder and Ekko only exist in this alternate universe, or is that romance something that exists in the Jinx that we already know?
OVERTON: So, what we tried to do in this episode was stay true to who the character was from the start. We always tried to put a little bit of Jinx in Powder and a little bit of Powder in Jinx because they are the same person, they’re just shaped by different circumstances. I think we asked ourselves what Powder would look like if she had had a healthy support system around her when she faced the trauma of losing her sister, to help her through that. Well, she would still express it the same way. She still makes the little doll of Vi, but the way that that manifests in her psyche would look different. So I do think that there is crossover between the realities because they’re the same person.
LINKE: Yeah, I mean, how many soulmates do not meet each other just because they weren’t in the right circumstances? You can only imagine. So, yeah.
Excellent. As a strong shipper of theirs, I’m glad that’s the answer that you have for me. Now that we’re talking about that alternate reality, I do want to talk about Heimerdinger. We know that he sacrifices himself to give Ekko a chance to go back to his reality. However, the way he vanishes leaves the door so open for him to just respawn somewhere else, just like Yordles do in the game. So is there a possibility that he’s not gone gone, but just somewhere else?
LINKE: That is a possibility.
OVERTON: But he also knew what he was doing. A sacrifice can’t be meaningful in the show if it doesn’t have consequences, and he knew what he was doing; there were consequences to his actions there that we can’t quite fully know yet, I think.
‘League of Legends’ Offers Endless Possibilities

“I wanna see a story or TV show or movie with this character.”

Image via Netflix

For me, it was very impactful how the show came full circle with a reveal that the hooded figure that saved Jayce and gave him the rune was actually Viktor. Was this always part of the plan, or were there other versions that you explored in that backstory?
LINKE: There are a lot of versions. Pretty early on, there was a line that kind of landed for us among the writers, which was that the only person that can really defeat Viktor is Viktor, and there were different expressions of that, because Viktor gets to a point where his thinking and reasoning is very advanced and very ahead. So how do you challenge that? I think only a personal experience can really kind of convince him. So there were definitely different versions, but we always knew that it kind of had to circle back to that.
In a previous interview, Christian, you did mention that Arcane was sort of a first step for everything that you guys want to do with the lore of League of Legends. Is there anything that you can tease about other potential stories that you guys want to explore?
LINKE: That’s tough. Whatever we say will be set in stone and engraved into our graves. I can’t really say much yet. Right now, we’re really just investing in people that we’re inspired to see realize their visions and explore their ideas. And look, the League IP has a lot to offer. There’s a lot of cool characters and we all have favorites. There are many where I’m like, “I wanna see a story or TV show or movie with this character.” But who’s gonna make it, you know? And so then the question is like, can we find the right person? You just need to try stuff and talk to people, meet new writers. You meet new artists. And so yeah, we’re still kind of in that phase. I’m really, really excited about the things we’re exploring. But yeah, too early to commit to anything because our audience cares, and they would never let us forget about any promises.
I have to say that one of the most fascinating things to me about Arcane is how complex the world-building is, and while there’s a lot of existing lore in League of Legends, what was your favorite show-original addition to the mythos?
OVERTON: I think the most personal thing to me is just Caitlyn’s parents, because we didn’t know who or what they were, and we got to make them real and we got to talk about their design and what Caitlyn’s mother did and what happens to her mother and who. Her journey is so part of Caitlyn’s journey. And just the fact that we were like, “Oh, this is a fantasy world where magic defines the power structure. What if Caitlyn’s family is matrilineal?” And now that is, and you look at the paintings on the wall that these people did, and it’s just all women. Just imagining a different power structure than the one we live in every day is a world I’ll always want to play in.
LINKE: Yeah, but also it doesn’t stand out. That’s just how it is, and I think that’s nice about it.
OVERTON: It’s just like, everything we did with world-building is just like, “Let’s just make it different,” and then that’s the fabric of the show, but that’s not what the story is about. It’s just part of what the story is.
‘Arcane’ Season 2 Offered Many Visual Experiences

The creators discuss how the story itself can inspire the visual style.

Image via Netflix

I love that you mentioned Caitlyn’s parents because I did want to ask you, Bart, about one particular scene that really struck a chord with me, and it’s the one of the funeral of Caitlyn’s mother. I recently read that it was hand-drawn with charcoal and then combined with the 3D elements, which to me is just mind-blowing. How was the process of making that scene, and how did you guys come up with that approach for that particular moment?
MAUNOURY: By the time we were doing that scene, we’d already had quite some time on the show, so we quickly decided to try out some other visual experiences here and there whenever it would make sense, and obviously, for that funeral scene, it made sense to explore something new. So we had our art director, Julien Georgel, who came up with that charcoal idea and did himself the drawings. So you are right that they are real charcoal drawings where we added the 3D characters, and again, I think going back to the music, the music also helped a lot with the drama of that sequence. Talking about grief is always hard, so you want to be as subtle and authentic as possible, and I think this visual helped with that.
LINKE: We talked a lot about how Caitlyn should feel, right? Like the world around her is kind of slowing down, it’s kind of lifeless. I think charcoal drawings have that quality of like, things are a bit less defined and life’s kind of sucked out of the environment and only Caitlyn and Vi are really moving. I think that’s what started the conversation that led to this expression.
Arcane Season 2 is available to stream on Netflix.

Arcane

Release Date

2021 – 2023

Showrunner

Christian Linke, Alex Yee

Directors

Pascal Charrue, Arnaud Delord

Writers

Christian Linke, Alex Yee

Franchise(s)

League of Legends