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 masonry paralyzes him from the waist down.

With eight Piltovans, Jayce and his fellow councillor/love interest Mel included, present in the chamber during the attack, any of them could’ve died in the hit Netflix show’s season 1 finale. Of course, thanks to some characters’ established history in League of Legends, Riot Games’ popular video game franchise that Arcane is based on, at the very least I expected Jayce and Viktor to survive. Indeed, I stated as much in my piece on eight huge questions that Arcane season 2 needs to answer before the animated series ends.

The aforementioned duo notwithstanding, though, how did Linke and Yee decide on who, out of the remaining six individuals, would die in one of the best Netflix shows’ season 2 premiere?

“I think it was always planned that way [for that trio to die],” Linke said. “It [Jinx’s attack] was supposed to bring out Mel’s abilities [to shield those in close proximity to her], and it also forced Jayce’s hand with what happens with Viktor and how Jayce uses the Hexcore to save his life.”

“Hoskel and Bolbok, though…” Yee interjected, before he jokingly added: “There are some big fans on the team for those counselors!”

Speaking of things that were planned – or, in this case, weren’t planned – Linke and Yee also told me that it was “never the plan” for Arcane to run for five seasons on the world’s best streaming service. Even if it had, though, I’m convinced that there would be enough plot armor to protect Jayce and Viktor for many more episodes to come. Still, let’s all pour one out for Cassandra. I guess we should do likewise for Hoskel and Bolbok, too, even though they continually riled up viewers with their decision-making in season 1.

Anyway, you can expect more exclusives from my chat with Linke and Yee in the days and weeks ahead. For now, read my Arcane season 2 review for more details about the next three episodes, plus my Arcane season 2 act 1 ending explained piece for answers to your biggest questions after its first three chapters.