Our Biggest Unanswered Questions After ‘Arcane’ Season 2 Finale

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for the Arcane Season 2 finale.

Now the cycle is truly broken. After two seasons of bitter conflict and years of waiting, Arcane has finally ended with this past weekend’s finale, and the ending of Riot Games’ hit series is as epic and heartbreaking as ever. Following last week’s explosive showdown at Viktor’s (Harry Lloyd) healing commune, Arcane‘s final act introduces alternate dimensions, a world-ending resurrection, and one last battle for Hextech in a fight that seals the fates of the show’s most powerful characters. Surprisingly, however, this finale really isn’t as final as one would think, with the Netflix series opting to leave several major plotlines open rather than handing fans a complete resolution. As a result, we are left with several burning questions about the future of Arcane‘s world.

Who Is Really Dead After the ‘Arcane’ Season 2 Finale?

When looking for closure at the end of a TV series, the best indicator that a character’s story has ended tends to be their death, and Arcane‘s final act more than delivers on narrative bloodshed. In terms of major characters, Ambessa (Ellen Thomas) is one whose end appears to be final, with the Noxian general killed during her duel with Caitlyn (Katie Leung) and Mel (Toks Olagundoye) during her invasion of Piltover in Episode 9. Similarly, several side characters who played large roles in Arcane Season 2 also meet their end during this battle, including Loris (Earl Baylon), Gert (Ashley Holliday), and Maddie Nolan (Katy Townsend), Caitlyn’s former lover who is revealed to be a traitor before Mel kills her with her own redirected bullet. The now fully-corrupted Warwick (JB Blanc) is also destroyed in the finale, though the fates of Arcane‘s other champions are a little more complicated.

Aside from those who are given indisputable deaths, other members of Arcane‘s main cast are dealt fates that feel more ambiguous. Heimerdinger (Mick Wingert), for instance, is zapped by Hextech in Episode 7 in order to help Ekko (Reed Lorenzo Shannon) return to his home dimension, and both Jayce (Kevin Alejandro) and Viktor are sucked into Jayce’s wrist rune and out of existence during their final scene together. On the surface, all three of these deaths appear final, but since Arcane‘s magic system has already proven to be unpredictable, it’s entirely possible these three characters were transported somewhere else rather than killed entirely. Similarly, Jinx’s emotional sacrifice in the finale (Ella Purnell) may not be set in stone either, as there is already plenty of evidence that the character secretly survived and escaped on the airship seen in the finale’s final shot. As for official confirmation of these characters’ survival, however, we’ll just have to wait and see.

What Is in Store for Zaun and Piltover After ‘Arcane’ Season 2?

Apart from mourning their collective losses, the people of Arcane‘s two dueling factions also redefine their political relationship in the show’s final act, though this subplot ultimately raises more questions than it has time to answer. In fact, if there’s one main complaint that could be levied against Arcane‘s masterful finale, it’s that the show doesn’t allocate enough time to exploring how the people of the Undercity and Piltover finally band together against Viktor, relegating the partial resolution of this generational feud largely to the background of Arcane‘s final installment. That said, Sevika’s (Amirah Vann) appearance as a member of Piltover’s council suggests the people of the Undercity were rewarded for saving their oppressors, hinting at a more cooperative future between Arcane‘s two major powers.

Likewise, Ekko’s decision to leave his utopian reality and return to Arcane‘s brutal canon may be one of the finale’s most tragic elements, but his presence in the Undercity also suggests that the character will be a leader for his former home moving forward. Sevika’s appointment to the council doesn’t tell us much about Zaun’s status as an independent nation, much less whether she secured all of Silco’s (Jason Spisak) stipulations to Jayce during their scene in Season 1, but her inclusion in Piltover’s government remains the greatest evidence we have that Zaun has been fully realized. With Jinx’s possible sacrifice and Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) taking her sister’s advice to pursue a happy life with Caitlyn, Ekko and Sevika are therefore the greatest remaining authorities in the Undercity, meaning that the Firelights and remnants of Jinx’s revolution will likely combine to pursue their own happy future for a unified nation.

What’s Next for the Future of ‘Arcane’ and Riot Games?

Outside these internal story elements, however, Arcane‘s open-ended finale naturally raises the question of a continuation. The most logical assumption would be that the series’ story would conclude its unresolved plot threads in a prospective Arcane Season 3. Unfortunately, this isn’t happening. Despite false reports that the show was originally set to run for five seasons, Riot Games co-founder Marc Merill confirmed the creative team originally had around two seasons of material in mind, though this doesn’t mean that fans have seen the last of Arcane‘s vibrant world. In an interview with Collider, Arcane co-creator Christian Linke confirmed the show’s creative team is already working on follow-ups to the hit series, with subsequent comments clarifying that Arcane spin-offs would focus on three unexplored regions of Arcane‘s world, Runeterra.

The first of these regions, Noxus, should already be familiar to fans of the series. Not only is this nation home to the Black Rose witches who attacked Ambessa early in Season 2, but it is also Mel’s home and a country of warriors who abide by a similar ethos as Arcane‘s power-hungry general. Given Mel’s newly unlocked power, it’s likely this spin-off will see her return to her home and consolidate power herself, with the presence of a three-eyed raven in Arcane‘s finale hinting at an even more dangerous villain from the region. Moreover, the other two regions mentioned for future spin-offs, Ionia and Demacia, are similarly rife with narrative potential, with Demacia in particular possessing the champion Lux, who once joined forces with Jinx in League of Legends’ alternate universe, Star Guardians event, and could take advantage of Arcane‘s multiversal elements (plus Jinx’s likely survival) to do so again.

Whether Jinx meets someone who gives her a second lease on life or Mel succeeds in being the leader Ambessa always wanted her to be, these questions are fun to ponder and reiterate the power of Arcane‘s storytelling. While the finale doesn’t answer every question fans have about both the past and future of the series, the breadcrumbs left by the show’s final episodes hint at a future filled with even more diverse adventures and Runeterra’s exhilarating mythology. With plenty of heavy themes to digest from Arcane‘s final season and imminent spin-offs, it’s safe to say we’ll simply have to steel ourselves for another long wait before receiving any official word about the fate of Arcane‘s unparalleled world.

Arcane Season 2 is now fully available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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