Riot Games is ringing within the New Year with a contemporary season of League of Legends — the primary of three season launches that gamers will expertise in 2025. In typical Riot vogue, there is a cinematic trailer to associate with it, however this 12 months’s video is a significant step-up from its predecessors. For one factor, it is completely beautiful — thanks, in fact, to a lending hand from Fortiche, the animation studio that introduced Arcane to life. But extra importantly, the five-minute video is leaving followers of Netflix’s Arcane hopeful that this Noxus-themed trailer doubles as an thrilling prelude to a different League of Legends present.
There’s a few obvious nods to Arcane that make their means into the top of the brand new cinematic. One of the largest moments within the trailer that merges sequence with recreation comes when Black Rose members Vladimir and LeBlanc focus on how they should take “benefit of the chance that has washed up our shores,” which we’re assuming is a reference to Mel. LeBlanc additionally feedback that “Piltover was a lesson,” which Arcane viewers will acknowledge because the Runeterra area through which the unique present takes place.
When the ultimate season of Arcane wrapped, followers have been keen to search out out if different Runeterra areas would get some on-screen publicity. Christian Linke, artistic director at Riot and the creator and showrunner of Arcane, confirmed these suspicions in an interview with League content creator Necrit shortly after the present concluded, revealing that Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia will obtain their very own spin-off sequence.
Now, upon the cinematic’s launch, followers can not help however join the dots that this Noxus-themed season of League of Legends is probably a refined trace in direction of the Noxus-themed spin-off they have been ready for.
One Rioter on Reddit, dubbed RiotMiddler, has denied that the cinematic trailer is a set-up for a TV show: “Regarding the intent of the cinematic, our aim was to arrange some themes for Noxus for the season and a plot line that’ll be continued this 12 months in recreation/round recreation supplies (not a television present to be clear).”
But, like, have you ever checked out it? It very properly could also be true that the intent of the cinematic is in the beginning to advertise the brand new Noxus-based season of League of Legends — there is no precise present storyline that is teased, nor any official launch date for a brand new present hooked up. We’re simply saying, it appears unlikely that Fortiche went via the difficulty of making new designs for characters like Elise, Katarina, Vladimir, Darius, LeBlanc, and Trundle with no intent of introducing them right into a future sequence.
Show teaser or not, we’re hyped for this new season of League of Legends, which works reside tomorrow, January 9. It’s a fairly historic patch that ushers in a complete Noxian makeover for the Rift, a handful of visible modifications to the map, and even some novel concentrating on animations for the all-new Noxian War Turrets. Until Riot decides to launch an official announcement about its subsequent TV sequence, we’ll be ready with bated breath (and possibly re-watching Arcane).
Katie Reul is a contract journalist whose leisure reporting has been featured in IGN and Variety.
