Netflix interview: The cast and crew of Riot Games' Arcane weigh in on their experiences

Ladies, gentlemen and yordles of all sizes, the long-awaited day has finally arrived, and I'm sure we're all ready to start watching Arcane with a large tub of popcorn in hand. With Worlds 2021 having wrapped up merely a few hours earlier, it's certainly a great time to be a League of Legends fan, and regardless of who you were rooting for, it's all water under the bridge now. Probably.

Anyway, most of us should already have a rough idea of what Riot Games' much-hyped Netflix series is about, but for the benefit of those who might have missed the memo, here's a quick refresher. Essentially, the nine-episode series centers on the formative years of LoL's most prominent sister duo, Jinx and Vi as they try to find their place in the world. Judging from what we've seen so far (and what we will see!), the team has done a bang-up job breathing life into the dual cities of Piltover and Zaun, and of course, the same goes for the voiceover talents and their respective characters too. 

Actually, why not just ask them what it was like working on Arcane? That's what we did. We recently sat down for a chat with Ella Purnell, Katie Leung, Christian Linke and Alex Yee. The former two are the voices of Jinx and Caitlyn respectively, while the latter two are the Creators-cum-Executive Producers for the series. We've split up the article into two - our session with Purnell and Leung will be detailed down below, while the interview with Christian and Alex has been done up on the second page. So, without further ado, let's get right into it.

Note: Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Q (for both): Both of your characters come from very different backgrounds and literally live their lives on opposite ends of the law. So, given their individual upbringing and experiences in life, do you think you might have done anything differently if you were in their shoes?

Purnell: Wow, that's a really tricky one. Off the top of my head I think I'd definitely go with less violence than Jinx. Frankly, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what I might have done differently because the tragedy of Jinx's character is that this is simply the hand of cards that she's been dealt, and anything could have been different at the drop of a hat. So, yes - less violence, but then that would have made for a really boring show!

Leung: With Caitlyn, I think I'm pretty much in the same boat - it's hard to say if I would, or could have done anything differently. There are so many occasions where the right choice for her seems obvious because you don't actually have to make that choice. As the audience, you're just sitting there watching all of it unfold, but when you're actually in her shoes making those decisions, it's not going to be so easy. As such, I think I might just take the easy way out and say that I wouldn't have changed anything because you really just don't know until it happens.

Q (for Purnell): In terms of character development, Jinx probably features the broadest jump from her younger self. As such, were there any challenges you faced in facilitating the transition from Powder to Jinx, and were there any particular things you wanted to highlight about her change in outlook?

A: Considering that I didn't handle the role of Powder, I guess one of the biggest challenges for me as Jinx was learning how to handle and present these two drastically different voices inside her. After all, there are moments where you can sense that she's fighting between who she is and who she used to be, because even as an adult Powder is still in there somewhere. With that in mind, Jinx would end up having these monologues where she's basically dealing with herself, and I found that quite the challenge from a technical standpoint. In fact, what we ended up doing was recording these monologues separately, because Powder and Jinx are essentially two different people. 

Q (for Leung): As Arcane's narrative progresses, we see Caitlyn grow and develop from a starry-eyed girl into a confident young woman. Did your opinion of her as a character change along the way? If yes, how so?

A: Absolutely. When we were recording, and they were showing me clips of the younger Caitlyn, I found myself resonating with her in many ways. Like her, sometimes I find myself conflicted about the things that happen to her, and seeing how she tries to navigate such issues in her life while putting personal sentiment aside  for the greater good is rather inspiring. In turn, as she develops throughout Arcane, I found it quite empowering to see her really grow into her own as a person.

And that's one interview down. We've got excellent answers from both actresses, so it's time to hop over to our second interview with the creators of Arcane. Check it out on the second page!

Following our session with Purnell and Leung, we quickly hopped over to speak to the Creators and Executive Producers of Arcane themselves, Christian Linke and Alex Yee. Needless to say, building a city (much less an entire animated series) is no easy task, and it's certainly a completely different ball game from creating champions for League of Legends. But how exactly might they be different, and who's their favourite champion in LoL's ultra-diverse roster?

Well, let's find out.

Note: Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Given that Arcane is built upon the world that League of Legends has developed, why were Piltover and Zaun selected as opposed to another contrasting pair, like Demacia and Noxus?

Linke: Personally, I think we ended up choosing Piltover and Zaun because it's something that we really cared about in a creative sense. The whole interaction between magic and science was just immensely interesting to us and it had a sort of Da Vinci and Renaissance-era vibe to it, but this pair of cities also allowed us to explore what exactly this relationship (between magic and science) means for their societies. Additionally, Jinx and Vi are, quite simply, characters that are very near to our hearts. Alex and I were working on them for the game all the way back then, and being able to explore them in greater detail in Arcane was just a really cool opportunity for us.

Yee: Yes. To add onto what Christian has said, I think part of the reason we ended up choosing Piltover and Zaun is because the medieval fantasy aesthetic was pretty commonplace when we started working on Arcane, and as such we wanted to explore a different style. Also, this lined up nicely with the creative opportunities that we saw for "the birth of Hextech", giving us a platform that we can continue to build on in future.

Q: Were there any characters that you really felt deserved to be in Arcane but were unable to feature? What would you have liked to explore about them?

Linke: Personally, I would have liked to go deeper and have more yordles in there, but at some point we realised that if we added everything we wanted to, we wouldn't be able to give all of them their necessary space and time to shine. In fact, we actually feel that some of the characters who did make it into Arcane do deserve more time than what they currently have, but at the same time, we also had to have that discipline to say no. 

Yee: Heh, that's a really tricky question, because to answer that we would have to admit which characters aren't in the show, wouldn't we? In any case, I think it's worth highlighrting that this project has been in development for a really long time, and during the six years that we were working on Arcane, numerous champions have been added to the LoL roster. As much as we might like to, we simply can't integrate these into our story on a whim, but what I will say is that if we were starting Arcane all over again right now we might (and probably would) be choosing our cast from a much larger pool of characters.

Q: Building a fantasy world is never easy, and inspiration can come from anywhere. What would you say was the most unexpected source of inspiration that came to each of you during the process?

(Author's note: Linke's answer to this question really struck a chord with me, and I think it's worth highlighting for everyone to think about.)

For me, when we started this project, there were a lot of questions that we felt we needed to address regarding things like power and social structure, and over the past few years we've seen a lot of changes in this regard happening in our own world. There were many political figures and movements that left an impression on our lives during this period, and although it's certainly different for everyone, I think we live in a very defining time. As people, we've seen so many situations where it's really easy for one side to just believe the other is wrong due to ignorance, and this concept was just something that grew louder and louder as we continued working on Arcane.

Yee: Oddly, I would think that my most unexpected source of inspiration was being given the chance to work on this project itself. Like many of the characters in Arcane, we were given this great responsibility to shoulder and having to deal with their own self-doubt and insecurities, so in that sense, I definitely didn't see it coming. Even so, it was a delightful experience nonetheless.

Q: You guys have been around at Riot for ages now, and you've produced countless champions in League of Legends that players all across the world know and love. Which one is your favourite, in terms of aesthetic, gameplay or otherwise?

Linke: Man, I feel like that's a question where the answer changes every few months for me! Still, I think the current favourite would probably have to be Mordekaiser. I'm running him in the jungle a lot recently, because I think he's pretty ridiculous, but Tahm Kench does come a close second. 

Yee: To be honest, this is a question that is fundamentally impossible for me to answer, so I'll give you the answer that I have decided to say, and that's Caitlyn. I worked on her story and lore really early on, and coincidentally I'd like to think my most played position in League of Legends is ADC (Attack Damage Carry) too. I also feel that she plays a crucial role in Arcane's story as a "bridge" between the two cities, so yes - Caitlyn would have to be my answer.  

Arcane is shaping up to be a really exciting watch even if you're not already acquainted with Jinx, Vi or League of Legends in general. Plus, with the holiday season just around the corner, chances are you'll probably have the time to check out at least one episode. 

Of course, that's assuming you can stop after just one.

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