Arcane Reportedly Became the Most Expensive Animated TV Series

Highly anticipated season 2 of Netflix's Arcane will launch on November 9, concluding the entire saga, as it was announced that the second season will be the last. In a recent report, it was revealed that the alleged cost of the series production constituted $250 million, making it the most expensive animated TV series.

Arcane is the only TV or film content ever generated by Riot Games, though the company intended to expand into cinematic production and hired executives from top media companies such as Netflix, HBO Max, and Paramount to develop an entertainment department for the production of animated films based on Riot's projects.

Reportedly, the production and promotion of the Arcane series, the most notable product of Riot's entertainment division, cost approximately $250 million. The show's two seasons feature 18 episodes, and it makes it the most expensive animated series ever on streaming or linear TV. Variety's sources claim that it is the company's inexperience in entertainment production that led to such large expenditure.

Marc Merrill, Riot's Co-Founder and CPO, told Variety that they never intended to operate like a traditional studio with traditional timelines. "What did change as we learned more was our expectations of ourselves: we realized that getting it right takes a lot more time than we’d originally expected, and so we recalibrated our development, output goals, and teams with that in mind," Merrill said. 

Arcane is a popular and successful show that inspired many artists to recreate its characters in their amazing works. For instance, recently, 3D Artist Marlon R. Nunez showcased a video breakdown of creating Jinx in ZBrush, Substance 3D Painter, and Unreal Engine:

Liu Xing shared a recreation of Jinx powered by Unreal Engine:

In anticipation of the show's second season, the fans and creators celebrate the launch, for instance, Netflix released an official music video for Sheryl Lee Ralph's "Blood, Sweat & Tears" song, showcasing stunning animations and visuals of the upcoming show:

ZugZug Studio announced the Arcane Style 3D Art Challenge, a competition for artists in which they can present their Arcane-themed works and try to win one of the prizes.

Don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.