Third time’s the charm for Netflix, as Arcane has made history by becoming the first streaming series to win an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. It’s a notable achievement for the streaming platform, whose previous contenders, BoJack Horseman and Big Mouth, got as close to being nominated, but missed out on bringing the honour home.
The League of Legends animated show beat other heavy hitters in the hotly contested category, which included the likes of Bob’s Burgers, Rick and Morty, The Simpsons, and Chadwick Boseman-voiced What If…?. Christian Linke, co-creator of Arcane, was in attendance to pick up the award, attributing the win to the source of his inspiration in a congratulatory speech:
“Thank you for this. It’s a big deal for us, as we come from video games. It’s been amazing to see the world embrace our characters and our stories, so thanks to Netflix, who believed in us from the beginning, thanks to Riot Games, who worked on the whole IP … and to all the people that have been with our game and League of Legends for the last 12 years or so who helped make it as big as it is now.”
The big win comes after Netflix had announced that it’s in the midst of producing the second season of Arcane, which is set to premiere sometime in 2023. More recently, Riot Games also released a limited five-part documentary series about the making of the show on YouTube, where creators delved behind the scenes to reveal how it became one of the most popular and most discussed series of 2021. A trailer for the featurette may be viewed below:
Set in utopian Piltover and the oppressed underground of Zaun, Arcane follows sisters Vi and Jinx, as they find themselves on opposing sides of a brewing war over clashing convictions and arcane technologies. Other League champions, such as Caitlyn, Jayce, Ekko, and Viktor, were also introduced over the course of the story, resulting in a cliffhanger ending that sets up the stage for Season 2.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Natalie
