‘Arcane’ Becomes First Streaming Show to Win Outstanding Animation Emmy

Mal
Mal
4 Min Read
Riot Games/Fortiche

Netflix’s Arcane has won Outstanding Animated Program at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

The win is a major celebration for Netflix, as the streamer has been nominated twice before — for Big Mouth and BoJack Horseman — but failed to take the award home. Arcane’s success at the Creative Arts ceremony also marks the first time that a streaming show has ever picked up the award.

It was certainly third time lucky for Netflix, as Arcane had some stiff competition. The groundbreaking show beat Bob’s Burgers, Rick and Morty, The Simpsons, and Disney’s What If…? to take home the coveted Best Animation trophy.

Arcane co-creator Christian Linke picked up the award. His speech thanked Riot Games for creating the video game which inspired the series, League of Legends, as well as Netflix and the fans who made it all possible.

“Thank you for this. It’s a big deal for us, as we come from video games. It’s been amazing to see the world embrace our characters and our stories, so thanks to Netflix, who believed in us from the beginning, thanks to Riot Games, who worked on the whole IP … and to all the people that have been with our game and League of Legends for the last 12 years or so who helped make it as big as it is now.”

Arcane was released in November 2021 and quickly became one of Netflix’s biggest hits to date. The series, which is made in partnership with Riot Games, stars Hailee Steinfeld (Hawkeye, Dickinson), Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets, Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children), and Katie Leung (the Harry Potter movies), as well as featuring outstanding voice performances from Kevin Alejandro, Jason Spisak, Toks Olagundoye, JB Blanc, and Harry Lloyd.

The Emmys aren’t Arcane’s first foray into awards season, as the series landed a total of nine Annie Awards earlier this year. The show was lauded not only on the awards circuit but by critics and fans alike and holds a rare 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating as well as a 96% viewer score, a height that many established, long-running network TV shows have never managed.

Unsurprisingly, season 2 is already in production, and Riot Games recently released a limited documentary series on the making of the show, Arcane: Bridging the Rift.

Created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, the series follows the origins of sisters Jinx and Vi — both popular champions in League of Legends — as they are first separated and then reunited in the sprawling twin cities of Piltover and Zaun.

Taking home the Outstanding Animation Emmy puts Arcane in company with some of the best-known animations of the past decades, including Ricky and Morty, The Simpsons, and Bob’s Burgers.

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