InterviewThe new Netflix series Arcane was officially released today. Arcane is based on one of the biggest games in the world, League of Legends, and offers fans the chance to learn more about the game’s famous heroes. However, if we are to believe co-creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee, the series is also an interesting spectacle for the non-gaming viewer.
Arcane tells the story of sisters Jinx and Vi, two playable characters from League of Legends (LoL). Players of the game will know that there is a battle between the two sisters, but until now it was never quite clear why. The series takes a step back in time and gives an explanation to this sisterly struggle, taking the viewer into a compelling story about good and evil, rich and poor and the associated dilemmas.
“It was always clear to us that the world of League of Legends is much bigger and more complex than players can see in the game,” said Christian Linke. A world where he, together with co-creator Alex Yee, wants to take the audience into the new Netflix series Arcane. The project stems from the passion of the two for the story behind the famous heroes from the game, the American says. ,,We hope with Arcane to be able to show the deeper, human side of the characters and explain why they are who they are.”
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Getting to know the characters
Although the series is based on the world of the popular online game, the two are convinced that Arcane is also interesting for people who are not familiar with LoL. “We jump back in time at the beginning of the story, giving everyone a chance to get to know the characters,” Yee said. “In addition, the emphasis is on telling a story, rather than stringing together action scenes with recognizable skills,” Linke continues. “Everyone who plays the game knows what Jinx and Vi can do in a fight, but now we also show how they get those weapons or why they fight at all.”
We jump back in time at the beginning of the story, giving everyone a chance to get to know the characters
“Having said that, I think there are still plenty of opportunities for fans to see iconic things from the game in the series,” Yee said again. ,,There are a lot of easter eggs hidden in the episodes, but sometimes you have to look hard to find them. We have tried to process these in the show in such a way that they do not distract from the story for new viewers.”
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Challenges
Which Arcane is based on the already existing League of Legendsworld, and so there was a lot of information available to work with, did not necessarily make it easier for the producers. For example, the two say that a lot of time has been spent in translating the existing ‘lore’ into a workable script. “The stories of the characters were not originally developed for a series,” Linke begins. “We started by looking at what each character’s main characteristics are. We then tried to interpret those features, which are often created from a game design point of view, as freely as possible without losing the essence. So that we could eventually give it a deeper meaning in the series.”
A second obstacle was the choice of the direct object of the show. “There are so many characters that it’s simply not possible to make a story with them all in it,” Yee said. ,,So we started looking at how we could write a strong, but true story, in which as many familiar faces as possible appear. In particular, weaving the different characters together and figuring out how they would interact with each other was one of the biggest challenges in translating the existing stories into a series-worthy script.”
There are so many characters that it is simply not possible to make a story that includes them all
The first season of many
The first three episodes of Arcane can be streamed on Netflix starting today. Numbers four through six will be online next week and the last part of the first season can be seen from November 20. When asked about a possible sequel, Linke is somewhat superficial: ,,For now, the emphasis is on this project. Before we determine whether there will be a sequel, we are first curious whether this will catch on and what people think of our storytelling, but the dream is obvious that this is the first season of many.”
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