The interview has been edited for brevity.
What was your guiding principle for writingArcanes second and final season?
Amanda Overton:The guiding principle was always to make the best TV show possible.
© Netflix/Fortiche
You do you when it comes to making the best TV show you’re able to.
Alex actually helped create a lot of the champions that everybody loved.
And they really loved the game, really loved the fans.
© Netflix / Fortiche
One of the funniest examples for me is creating the Z-Drive for Ekko in episode seven.
io9: Arguably, one ofArcanes most gratifying moments was the canonization of Caitlyn and Vi.
Online, youve become known as a soothsayer with your credits on shows likeMonarchandSeverance,with their queer representation.
© Netflix / Fortiche
And [Linke and Yee] were like, Its going to be Cait and Vi.
Theyve been hinted at in the game, but theyve never been made canon.
So we want our show to make them canon.
© Netflix / Fortiche
I loved these big, massive IP shows and stories.
For me, it was just a huge responsibility to tell an epic series-long romance.
We were going to make them endgame.
© Netflix / Fortiche
I was like, Well, weve got to make this as hard as possible.
If Caitlyns an enforcer, what if enforcers killed Vis parents?
But we also needed to understand how they could fall in love.
© Netflix / Fortiche
That needs to be based on mutual respect.
The first hurdle we had was Caitlyn.
Shes an enforcer [with] a life of privilege.
© Netflix / Fortiche
She didnt have to fight, but she chose to fight.
Whereas Vi, for her whole life, felt like to get anything, she always had to fight.
So, she could look at someone who didnt have to fight and chose to fight anyway.
© Netflix / Fortiche
That was the kernel of, Oh, she could respect that in Caitlyn.
Overton:No (laughs)!
It was so overwhelming.
© Netflix / Fortiche
I couldnt even find words for it.
It was as loud as a jet engine, the sound guy told me.
You see a giant mural of two women in love in the center of a giant city.
© Fortiche / Rael Lyra
Thats never happened to me before.
If she saw this, she would feel like she belonged.
Thats the reason I write stories now, so it means the world to me.
io9: One point of contention fans have had with the season is its pacing in the second act.
What does Caitlyns I know signify to you?
She had Jinx in custody.
She could have gotten the justice that she always wanted.
Instead, she chooses Vi.
Like she says, you’ve got the option to never take back the mistakes.
you might only venture to make up for them.
And in the end, she gives her eye.
io9: Maddie was a characterArcanefans loved to hate this season because she served as Caitlyns rebound from Vi.
Overton:The biggest romances need obstacles.
Do I have to do what my mom wanted me to do?
And so, in the beginning, she leans into the council and the leadership that her mom did.
I didnt just want it to be professional, I wanted it to also be personal.
What would it look like if she dated someone her mom mightve approved of?
And that helps her understand what she really wants.
It behooves me to ask, did you have a hand in concocting that scene?
And if so, what was going through either persons mind at that moment?
Overton:The spit scene or the sex scene?
io9: The spit scene.
Well get to the other one.
Overton:I think a storyboard artist or an animator did that.
Thats not something that I had a hand in.
The whole team knew from the beginning that this couple was gonna be the endgame.
Every single person was in on this together.
If so, what and why?
She, like everybody, put all of their ideas of what they wanted to see in there.
It had to show more.
It had to bring to life everything that these characters were and had done.
Every single moment of that, you had to learn something new about their relationship.
To me, that the most important thing to do.
And again, that whole team came together.
Our storyboard artist, Silvia, really worked hard.
She crafted a lot of wonderful beats, [and gave them] a lot of texture there.
The episodes directors also helped.
Christian, Alex, everybody had a say.
They also really listened to me.
Theyre like, Amanda, what do you think?
And I was like, Well, as the lesbian in the room, what about this?
They just didnt exist.
io9: What is the significance of their first time being in a jail cell?
Thats what storytelling is: having strong emotional reactions to something and then figuring out why.
I think with the lighting, the framing, and the way that the directors orchestrated everything felt beautiful.
Everybody worked really hard to make that location work and I think everyone has a visceral reaction to that.
Thats what you want as a writer.
You want your audience to feel something visceral when they see something.
So I was really proud of the team for making that work.
We were writing them as a loving, brotherly relationship that unambiguously [had] love between them.
That was really cool for me to see.
If people want to imagine that, I think they can, and thats wonderful.
What makes the episode such a standout for you as a writer?
Teen romance, I love it.
We said, Lets take that and do our version.
Because everyones so familiar with this right now, we dont have to spend much time explaining the multiverse.
And most importantly, he gets to see a version of Powder who grew up not becoming Jinx.
I think [thats] what was great about that episode.
We got to see and imagine a future for all these characters that didnt have one in our series.
For Powder in particular, we got to show that theres always some Jinx in Powder.
He got disillusioned with the darkness of Zaun and from having to fight so long.
Overton:The second season took four years for us to write and produce.
Its wonderful to hear that peoples biggest complaint is they wish they had more time with these characters.
He had one of the biggest arcs in the whole series.
I would want to dive into his mindset a little bit more and his past.
So, maybe the Viktor backstory novel would be something that would be interesting.
io9: What does Caitlyns question about Vi still being in the fight mean to you?
Overton:I think the best endings have always left things unsaid and open to interpretation.
Those are the endings where Im like, But what did they mean by that?
I was like, Ooh, we nailed that final line.
The characters are quite young in our series.
Theyre like in their early 20s or 20 years old.
io9: Youre set to develope Fortiches upcoming sci-fi Greek mythology story,Penelope of Sparta.
What should fans expect out of the series given what youve accomplished withArcane?
This was an idea that Fortiche had that they came to me and pitched.
They wanted to do a prequel toThe Odyssey.
They wanted to do something set in a Greek mythology-inspired world, but with the Fortiche twist on it.
I think you could expect romance, you could expect trauma, and tragedy.
you’ve got the option to expect a lot of tragedy with a little bit of hope.
io9: WithArcanebookended, what are your hopes moving forward for future writing projects?
Are there any dream projects in the wings?
[Arcaneis] such a huge expansive massive world-building show.
Those are things I love to bring to life.
But I think moving forward, I would like opportunities to tell more stories in spaces like that.
Theres been a lot of really great adaptations of video games coming out recently.
All episodes ofArcaneare streaming on Netflix.
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