Arcane has a huge budget due to its quality, say showrunners

Key insights

Arcane is reportedly the most expensive animated series of all time, with a production and advertising budget of $250 million.
In a new interview, Arcane's showrunners defended the show's supposedly high budget, which is due to its use of high-quality talent.
While they didn't fully confirm these reports, the showrunners indicated that a large budget would be required to realize their vision.

It's no secret that production costs for television and films have been increasing, just as they have for video games. Still, it came as a shock to many that Netflix's Arcane is reportedly the most expensive animated series of all time.

According to a report from entertainment website Variety, Arcane has a reported $250 million under management for Riot Games. Of that, $80 million went to Season 1 and another $100 million to Season 2. Not to mention the $60 million spent on advertising. In other words, League of Legends' animated spin-off isn't cheap.

Now, a few days after the initial report, Arcane showrunners are speaking out about the show's big budget.

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Quality comes with costs

In an interview with GamesRadar, showrunner Christian Linke confirmed that the reported budget of $250 million was incorrect, although he did not clarify how long the show actually ran.

“First of all, the number is not entirely correct,” said Linke. “This figure includes the marketing costs associated with the release, which are not part of Arcane's budget.” Still, it's safe to assume that at least some of the $250 million, particularly the production aspects, is at least somewhat within budget is.

Regardless, Linke and his colleagues were quick to defend their work on Arcane. “Arcane is a really expensive animated series – and that's what it was about,” he added. “Our dream was to create an animated series similar to what you see in cartoons.”

Alex Lee, another showrunner, also described the cost of hiring incredible talent like voice actors and artists to bring the show to life. “There are voice actors where we really tried to find great talent,” Lee said. “There are artists that we wanted to have time to really get involved and have so many different disciplines that they could really do their best and show what they can do. In many ways the money is just a reflection of the effort that went into this.”

Considering how popular and well-received Arcane was, it seems like the budget largely paid off. Still, it's worth discussing how the series managed to cost more than some well-known animated projects. And it's definitely worth wondering what the final cost would have been if the show had reached the originally planned length.