Fortiche, the French studio behind the phenomenon reveals its working secrets

TV SERIES – Three years of waiting finally rewarded. The first act of season 2 ofArcane is available on Netflix this Saturday, November 9. And cocorico, it is a series produced and animated by the French from the Fortiche studio in collaboration with Riot Games, the developer of the video game League of Legends from which the series is based.

Season 1 ofArcane has met with immense success on the streaming platform. It won over the players who were impatiently awaiting it but also the uninitiated who did not know the universe at all. And this success is reflected in very strong audiences (38.4 million cumulative viewing hours between November 15 and 21, 2021, as recalled Les Inrocks) and awards such as the Emmy Award for Best Animated Program in 2022.

Watch the trailer for season 2 below :

HuffPost met Pascal Charrue, co-founder of Fortiche and co-director of season 1, as well as Barthelemy Maunoury, creative director and co-director of this new season. Together, they look back on the success of their series and the future of Fortiche.

The HuffPost: What was the success of the first season ofArcane brought to your studio?

Pascal Charrue: The series gave us very important legitimacy and recognition. The phenomenon being international, major American studios can contact us and big names like Hideo Kojima praise us. So this means that industry players are intrigued and recognize the importance that Arcane in the world of animation. I think that's great.

Animation is a time-consuming technique. How do you stay motivated when you work on the same project for so long?

Barthelemy Maunoury : When the series was released in 2021, we were already in production with two or three sequences being produced for the first episodes of this season 2. So we didn't stop between the two seasons, it was a continuous flow .

It can be a little tedious but the series is so rich that you never get bored. There is no weariness. We constantly tried to come up with new ideas like exploring other genres through certain sequences in the series.

And after so many years of work, how do you feel about finally presenting season 2?

B.M. : We can be a little apprehensive. There was something comfortable while the first season aired: we weren't known. And, therefore, we were not expected. Now we are exposing ourselves to a backlash because we are expected to turn the corner.

P.C. : I'm more afraid with this season than with the first for my part. When season 1 came out, there weren't many projects of this scale. The series could surprise, especially with its original visuals. But, with season 2, I ask myself a lot of questions. Will she have the same success? Will the audience be as engaged? Will the reviews from people in the trade be good?

B.M. : But we haven't been idle, we've been even more demanding of ourselves and we're very proud of what we've done. So there is no reason for us to stress!

What is the future of Fortiche now thatArcane is finished?

P.C. : We want to have fun exploring different genres and different tones like a thriller or a slasher For example. And do it with our guts, our desires, our loves, our references so that the spectators are amazed!

The future of the studio is to be multi-project. Our ambition is to produce films, for small and big screens, in shorter and even prettier times thanArcane. We want to continue to team up with Riot Games and build other collaborations but we are also developing our own license [Penelope of Sparta, ndlr]. All this to have more regular meetings with our audience. We hope that animation becomes widespread and that there is no longer any shame in watching it.

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