After Arcane season 1 ended on a stunning cliff hanger, its creators say it was ‘always the plan’ for those characters to die in the season 2 premiere

• Arcane‘s creators have explained why those councillors died in season 2 episode 1
• The duo say it was “always planned that way”
• There were never any discussions about killing off other Piltover council members

Full spoilers follow for Arcane‘s season 1 finale and season 2 premiere.

Arcane‘s showrunners have revealed how they decided who died – and who didn’t – as a result of Jinx’s explosive attack on Piltover’s council chamber.

Speaking exclusively to TechRadar ahead of Arcane season 2 making its Netflix debut yesterday (November 9), Christian Linke and Alex Yee discussed the process of determining which characters they were going to kill off.

In the season 1 finale, titled ‘The Monster You Created’, Jinx used her Hextech-powered Fishbones rocket launcher to fire a missile at Piltover’s council chamber. At the time, the so-called City of Progress’ leaders were meeting to validate Jayce’s plan to give Zaun – Piltover’s deprived cousin, which deuteragonists Jinx and Vi are citizens of – its independence. In practice, that would mean Zaunites wouldn’t be governed by Piltover’s council anymore.

Jinx’s attack, though, ends any hopes of Zaun being an independent state. Even worse, the projectile that causes such devastation, as evidenced by season 2’s opening scene, kills three Piltovan council members: Irius Bolbok, Torman Hoskel, and, most importantly, Cassandra Kiramman, Caitlyn’s mom and Jayce’s patron. Meanwhile, Jayce’s scientific partner Viktor is severely wounded by the blast, while two other councillors – Shoola and Salo – are also injured, with Salo coming off worse out of the pair when falling…