After Arcane Season 1 ended on a stunning cliffhanger, creators say it was ‘always the plan’ for those characters to die in the Season 2 premiere
- Arcane‘s creators explained why those council members died in season 2, episode 1
- The duo says it was “always planned this way”
- There have never been any discussions about killing other Piltover councilors
Full spoilers ahead ahead Arcane‘s season 1 finale and season 2 premiere.
Arcane‘s showrunners have revealed how they decided who died – and who didn’t – as a result of Jinx’s explosive attack on Piltover’s council chamber.
I speak exclusively to TechRadar in advance Arcane season 2, which made its Netflix debut yesterday (Nov. 9), Christian Linke and Alex Yee discussed the process of determining which characters to kill off.
In the season 1 finale, titled “The Monster You Created,” Jinx used her Hextech-powered Fishbones rocket launcher to fire a missile at Piltover’s council chamber. At the time, the leaders of the so-called City of Progress met to ratify Jayce’s plan to grant Zaun – Piltover’s deprived cousin, of which deuteragonists Jinx and Vi are citizens – his independence. In practice, this would mean that the Zaunites would no longer be under Piltover’s council.
However, Jinx’s attack ends any hope of Zaun being an independent state. Worse still, the projectile that causes such devastation, as evidenced in the opening scene of season 2, kills three Piltovan council members: Irius Bolbok, Torman Hoskel, and, most importantly, Cassandra Kiramman, Caitlyn’s mother and Jayce’s patron. Meanwhile, Jayce’s scientific partner Viktor is seriously injured by the explosion, while two other council members – Shoola and Salo – are also injured, with Salo faring worse when falling masonry paralyzes him from the waist down.
With eight Piltovans, including Jayce and his fellow councilor/love interest Mel, present in the room during the attack, any one of them could have died in the season 1 finale of the hit Netflix show. Of course, thanks to some characters’ established histories League of Legendsthe popular video game franchise from Riot Games Arcane is based on, at the very least, I expected Jayce and Viktor to survive. That is indeed what I said in my piece on eight big questions Arcane season 2 needs to answer before the animated series ends.
Despite the aforementioned duo, how did Linke and Yee decide which of the remaining six individuals would die in the season 2 premiere of one of Netflix’s best shows?
‘I think it was always planned that way [for that trio to die]’, said Linke. ‘It [Jinx’s attack] The intention was to highlight Mel’s abilities [to shield those in close proximity to her]and it also forced Jayce to put his hands on what happens to Viktor and how Jayce uses the Hexcore to save his life.
“But Hoskel and Bolbok…” Yee interjected, before jokingly adding, “There are some big fans in the team for those advisors!”
The time for talking is over. Stream the final season of #Arcane now, only on @netflix. pic.twitter.com/g4EyIjoHyNNovember 9, 2024
Speaking of things that were planned – or, in this case, not planned – Linke and Yee also told me that this was “never the plan” for Arcane will run for five seasons on the world’s best streaming service. But even if it did, I’m confident there would be enough plot armor to protect Jayce and Viktor for many more episodes. But let’s all pour one out for Cassandra. I think we should do the same for Hoskel and Bolbok, even though they continually confused viewers with their decision-making in Season 1.
Either way, you can expect more exclusives from my chat with Linke and Yee in the coming days and weeks. For now, read my Arcane season 2 review for more details on the next three episodes, plus my Arcane season 2 act 1 ending explained piece for answers to your biggest questions after the first three chapters.
