Arcane is officially over, but fans haven’t had enough of the Runeterra universe — far from it. Fortunately, we now know there are several follow-up projects in the works, and we even know what regions they’ll be set within.
Runeterra is a unique world created first for the League of Legends MOBA game before being expanded to several other titles and then adapted for the animated series Arcane. Given the scope of this world, there are a lot of unique places that stories can be set within.
During an appearance on Twitch creator Necrit94’s stream, Arcane showrunner Christian Linke revealed that there are three different Runterra series currently in development, each with their own unique region set in Runeterra. The regions he named are Ionia, Noxus, and Demacia.
Really, it shouldn’t be a great surprise to anybody who has played League of Legends to see these three locales being the top choices. In fact, Linke explained that he’s seen the community talk about seeing stories told in these regions before, which may have influenced their decision to invest time into developing stories within these settings.
Noxus would seem like the most natural follow-up to Arcane, since we’ve already met several characters from the region on screen, with the seeds already planted for further stories that could be told. Some of the region’s most popular characters — or champions, if you play the game — include Darius, Draven, and Riven. However, there’s a ton more to choose from, so it’s anyone’s guess who will eventually make it to screen.
Ionia is the most unique region amongst those listed, with its magical forests and mountains filled with ethereally enhanced characters. Some of the most popular figures in the area include Yasuo, Ahri, Akali, and Master Yi. Given that Arcane introduced viewers to the magical arts, visiting Ionia would take things to a new level, with almost all of its inhabitants being magically gifted in some way.
Finally, there is Demacia. This region is similar to Noxus in that it’s a kingdom at war, but aesthetically it’s quite unique. In Demacia you have champions like Garen, Fiora, Jarvan, Lux, and Lucian, among others. What’s obvious is that whatever route they choose to go, there’s still plenty of great stories to be told, and that will hopefully be the team’s biggest focus.
Linke also mentioned that while they would be telling new stories in these upcoming shows, there’s also a chance they could continue some from Arcane, so if you thought there was a chance of someone coming back after the season two finale, then there’s still a possibility you could be right. Of course, that remains to be seen, and we likely won’t have an answer for years to come. (Sigh).
Making animated shows on the scale of Arcane doesn’t just take a lot of money, but also time. With that in mind, we probably shouldn’t expect any news about what’s on the horizon anytime soon. The good news is that with three ideas in development, the chances are that whatever comes next will be just as magical as Arcane was, with an entirely new yet equally engrossing location for extra measure.
If you still haven’t finished Arcane then you can stream all 18 episodes of the show on Netflix right now.