Nearly a year and a half after the epic conclusion of Netflix's Arcane, the Emmy-winning animated series based on League of Legends remains a benchmark for video game adaptations. But as voice actors J.B. Blanc (Vander/Warwick) and Jason Spisak (Silco) recently revealed, the road to that masterpiece was anything but typical.
Speaking at Calgary Expo in a panel moderated by Collider's Maggie Lovitt, the duo shared behind-the-scenes secrets about the show's grueling creative process. Blanc and Spisak, who have been with the project since its earliest days, described a development cycle that stretched nearly a decade—and a pilot episode that went through an astonishing number of revisions.
60 Drafts and a Scrapped Pilot
According to Spisak, the pilot alone went through 60 drafts. “That’s unheard of!” he exclaimed. But even more shocking: the team actually produced an entire pilot episode—and then threw it away. “They made a whole pilot, and scrapped it!” Blanc revealed. He couldn't recall many details about that lost first episode, joking, “I wouldn't remember because I'm old and stupid.” Spisak wasn't even part of that initial version. “There was a pilot before the pilot I was in, so I was in the second one.”
This level of commitment is rare in television, especially for an already expensive animated series. “No one has that much money and time, right?” Blanc said. Spisak quipped that it was all thanks to League of Legends players: “We thank you for all your microtransactions!”
The Luxury of Time
Spisak emphasized that the show's lengthy production schedule was a gift. “Simply the amount of time that they had was a luxury,” he said. “Typically in animation, it’s a bit more… not a factory, but they’re pressed for time. You don’t have the diligence to really, truly explore a scene or even revisit it.” On Arcane, the cast and creators could redo scenes multiple times, experimenting with different approaches. “We got a chance to do a scene multiple times in multiple ways and really feel it out. And then Christian or Alex, or David, would ask us, ‘What do you think about that?’”
That collaborative, unhurried environment allowed the show to achieve its groundbreaking visual style and emotional depth—a rarity in the streaming era, where speed often trumps polish. For fans of other ambitious series, it's a reminder of what can happen when creators are given room to perfect their vision. (Speaking of ambitious streaming projects, Netflix's upcoming The Wiz remake aims for a similarly bold reinvention.)
Cast Changes and Radio Silence
Both Blanc and Spisak are among the few original cast members to survive the show's many iterations. “They changed the cast a number of times, and Jason and I seemed to keep surviving that,” Blanc recalled. “We’d be quite uncomfortable, like, ‘You know that thing we did? Is that still a thing?’” Spisak added, “Nope, I haven't heard I'm off the show, have you?”
The secrecy was extreme. After recording the pilot, Blanc said, “We recorded that, then didn't record anything for a year and a half. So you kind of go, ‘That doesn't feel like I have a job anymore.’” Spisak confirmed the lack of communication: “It's not like they were like, ‘Oh, don't worry, you're still in the show.’ You would never get that from them. No communication at all.”
Despite the uncertainty, the final product speaks for itself. Arcane won multiple Annie Awards and an Emmy, and its visual style—crafted by Studio Fortiche—remains a high-water mark for animation. For fans of the series, these revelations only deepen appreciation for the painstaking work that went into every frame. (And if you're hungry for more genre-bending animation, check out FX's upcoming Far Cry series, which promises a multi-season anthology approach.)
As for what's next for the Arcane universe, Riot Games has confirmed multiple spin-offs are in development. But for now, fans can marvel at the fact that one of the greatest animated series ever made nearly didn't happen—or at least, looked very, very different along the way.
