Arcane's showrunners want to shake things up, which is why Season 2 is ending.

Arcane Season 2 is wrapping up its second act and I'm in a state suspended animation. Not because the show is bad, but it ended on a cliffhanger, leaving me dangling, desperate for a resolution. It's a much more complex show, and it's spinning more plates. But I'm having a blast. I'm also curious about how it will all end, since this second season is its last.

It hasn't been cancelled. It was just a joke. The showrunners, who have worked on it for nine years, would like to move on to something else.

According to an interview with Animation Magazine, co-showrunner Christian Linke, and co-series Director Pascal Charrue, who lays it all out: "We've spent nine years on these 11 or more characters. There's also a desire to be able to tell stories of other characters we're equally passionate about."

Linke agrees, adding: "There are people who were single at the time they started working on Arcane but now they're married with kids in school." Fortiche, the studio that created the series, has been working on Arcane for over a decade. I can't believe they want to change. Linke says that even if it was an opportunity of a lifetime, "we were just really lucky to be able have a larger budget for an animation series, because Riot was our IP. We were able put art first. You don't get that chance very often."

What is the studio planning to do next? It's still a bit of a mystery. Fortiche is a Riot studio that works with Fortiche, but the studio does not control it. It could be exploring other franchises. You can put 'we made Arcane on your resume'.

We know that the studio is making Penelope of Sparta - a feature film based on Greek Mythology - but whether they'll return to prestige television for another shot at the League of Legends Universe is another matter. Riot's founder, Riot, hinted at this on Twitter. He said that Arcane only lasted two seasons because there are "lots of other stories to be told".

Linke and Chaurre, of course, are not at liberty to reveal the game in this interview. But Linke says, "There are things that I definitely have on my bucket-list." People will walk into places that I will not be able control with this. He also preemptively shoots down my joke about a Hamilton style rap retelling Arcane by saying: "but one day I want us to do a musical."

Linke's hopes for the industry are: "Hopefully other studios and IPs can see that animated series, expressive animation and bigger budget animation can be amazing." And there will be more. Hear, hear.