It's been about a year and a half since the release of the second and final season of Netflix's hugely successful League of Legends series, Arcane. The show was created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, two members of Riot Games, and the characters Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell) were conceived long before the show's idea came to light. Despite their lack of experience in television animation, Linke and Yee crafted a masterpiece, hailed as one of the best video game adaptations of all time, winning Emmy and Annie awards with the stunning visuals from Studio Fortiche.

J.B. Blanc and Jason Spisak, the voices of Vander/Waik and Silco, delved deep into all aspects of Arcane during a panel led by Collider's Maggie Lovitt at Calgary Expo last weekend. During the panel, the actors were asked how the written script by Linke, Yee, Amanda Overton, and the high production quality elevated them to new levels in the voice recording studio. Spisak noted that the biggest advantage of the series was time. Although the demands of streaming services can conflict with the painstaking nature of animation, especially for productions like Arcane that push boundaries, the production team was given the luxury of perfecting every detail.

"The amount of time they had was truly a luxury. Typically, there’s time pressure in animation, and there’s no opportunity to really explore scenes or re-record if they think it’s not going well. But the greatest gift we were given in this series was the luxury of taking our time. We got to do scenes multiple times, in different ways, and feel the emotion. Then Christian, Alex, or David would ask, 'What do you think of this?'" Spisak said.

Linke's idea for Arcane dates back to 2015 and Riot's efforts to expand the League of Legends brand beyond the famous MOBA game. Since then, Blanc and Spisak have largely worked on this project. Blanc recalled that they made their first recording about nine years ago and ten years ago. At that time, the version of the series created by Linke and Yee was very different from the fated conflict between the sisters and the cities that was ultimately presented.

The pilot episode even developed to an unprecedented degree for a typical television series. Spisak added, "The pilot had 60 drafts. That's unheard of!" This number far exceeds the typical number of revisions in productions, showcasing the Arcane team's commitment to perfection.