The creators of "The Battle of Two Cities" denied the rumors that there were originally planned to be 5 seasons: It was just a joke

The highly acclaimed League of Legends-themed anime adaptation, The Battle of Two Cities, recently aired its second season on Netflix, which will also be the final season of the anime. It is loved by many players and new fans of the anime, and many people are reluctant to part with it, which has led to rumors that it was originally planned to have a total of 5 seasons. This rumor has now been denied by the creators of the anime.

The rumor began with a report from entertainment media Variety, which said that the animation "was originally planned to have a total of 5 seasons." In an interview with TechRadar, the co-creators of the series, Christian Linke and Alex Yee, said that this was just a joke that former Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent made a few years ago and was misunderstood.

Linke said that the idea for Two Cities was to have two seasons after the pilot, centering on the stories of Vi and Jinx. “When we started building the story after the pilot, we thought, ‘This is going to be two seasons,’” he said. “There was never a plan for it to last to Season 5.”

"What actually happened was, I think we had done a pilot or a few episodes, but we still hadn't gotten the green light for a full season. At that time, Nicolo suddenly pulled me into a room and said, 'Hey, I know you haven't been greenlit (for the first season), but I've decided not to give it to you...' I was sitting there, very frustrated, but he went on to say, 'Because I'm going to give you the green light for 5 seasons!'" This was probably just Nicolo's unique praise for the state of animation at the time, but it not only made Linke's mood go on a roller coaster ride, but also led to subsequent rumors. However, Linke said that his brain was loaded for a while and he laughed out loud.

Yee added, “The process of making an animated series is so long that it was hard for us to ask Riot to trust us with the first season.”

Linke concluded: "So the rumors about five seasons are just a joke." However, although there are only two seasons, the two did not deny the possibility of more projects in the future.

The two seasons of Two Cities cost a whopping $250 million to produce, the most ever for an animated series. But it seems to be worth it for Riot Games, according to the company's chief product officer Marc Merill: "We feel very good about delivering a show that is worthy of our players' investment of time and money."

The drama is currently being broadcast simultaneously on Bilibili.