Arcane: Cast & Character Guide

Set in the League of Legends universe, Netflix's Arcane uses the multiplayer online battle arena video game's extensive lore and engrossing world to tell the story of sisters Vi (Hawkeye's Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Fallout's Ella Purnell). The Emmy Award-winning animated series chronicles the growing unrest that's boiling over between the wealthy city of Piltover and the oppressed undercity of Zaun. Soon enough, Vi and Jinx find themselves not just embroiled in the conflict, but on opposing sides of Arcane's war. In the wake of Arcane season 1's cliffhanger ending, viewers couldn't be more excited about new episodes.

Not only does the series boast a beautiful blend of stunning 2D and 3D animation, but Arcane also features memorable fight scenes that capture the frenetic energy of playing League of Legends. After a 3-year wait, Arcane will end with season 2, which is somewhat disheartening for fans. At the same time, the acclaimed Netflix series is set to launch a larger League of Legends animated universe, which certainly softens the blow. If future League adaptations have characters half as compelling as Arcane's Vi and Jinx, the future of the franchise will be bright.

Hailee Steinfeld As Vi

Date Of Birth: December 11, 1996

• Active Since: 2007

Actor: Hailee Steinfeld is best known for playing Kate Bishop in the MCU's Hawkeye, starring in Apple TV+'s queer comedy-drama Dickinson, and leading the coming-of-age movie The Edge of Seventeen. Arcane wasn't her first big vocal performance, as Steinfeld also starred in another animated production packed with thrilling battles: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. There she plays Gwen Stacy, a.k.a. Spider-Gwen, who comes from one of the multiverses to fight alongside Miles Morales.

Character: Vi is one of the main characters of Arcane, an ill-tempered girl who likes to solve her problems with her fists. Despite being a vigorous fighter, she's delicate and sensitive, suffering from trust issues and troubled by the burden of a tragedy that occurred when she was a child. She witnesses the death of her best friend and serves an unfair time in prison. Vi is among the strongest female animated TV characters, born for hand-to-hand combat. Her skilled fists are covered by special iron gauntlets which became her signature weapon.

Ella Purnell As Jinx

Date Of Birth: September 17, 1996

• Active Since: 2010

Actor: Ella Purnell is best-known for playing Lucy MacLean in Fallout and Jackie in the Emmy-nominated TV show Yellowjackets. She also appeared in successful movies such as Tim Burton's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Mark Romanek's coming-of-age sci-fi drama Never Let Me Go. She brings a lot of emotional power to Jinx, a character consumed by despair and constantly on the brink of madness.

Character: Jinx is a complex antihero in Arcane and Vi's younger sister. The show deals with Jinx's tragic arc in a compelling way: she usually has the best intentions, but the execution of her plans always causes someone to get hurt. She was born as Powder, a sweet little girl with a passion for explosives and inventions, but after one of her handmade bombs kills all of her friends and separates her from Vi, Powder becomes Jinx, a dangerous and unpredictable killer whose mental issues will only aggravate until she finds someone who treats her with empathy.

Kevin Alejandro As Jayce Talis

Date Of Birth: April 7, 1976

• Active Since: 2002

Actor: Kevin Alejandro, who plays Jayce, is a TV veteran best known for his role as Dan Espinoza in Lucifer. In Arrow, the CW show that follows Oliver Queen and his superhero alter-ego, Green Arrow, Alejandro played Sebastian Blood, a major antagonist. He also stole the show in True Blood's third season as the brujo Jesus Velasquez.

Character: The Arcane character Jayce is wildly different from his League lore. In the show, he seems to be the perfect man with the perfect life, but he has an obsession with ancient magic ever since a mysterious encounter with a mage in his childhood. He is talented, handsome, and a man of influence in the Council of Piltover, eventually gaining recognition for his groundbreaking inventions. Alongside Viktor, Jayce is responsible for presenting Hextech to Piltover, bringing unwanted attention from powerful enemies and dividing the Council due to dangers that his inventions might bring about, despite their efficiency.

Harry Lloyd As Viktor

Date Of Birth: November 17, 1983

• Active Since: 1999

Actor: Harry Lloyd, who plays Viktor in Arcane, is an English actor with a strong career in both movies and TV. Viewers will be familiar with his iconic appearance in Game of Thrones season 1 as Viserys Targaryen. His performance in The Fear was unanimously acclaimed by critics and earned him a BAFTA nomination, leading to roles in Robin Hood and Doctor Who.

Character: Viktor is one of the smartest characters in Arcane, but he's also incredibly lonely. There's a certain darkness in Viktor despite his best intentions and the meaningful friendship he develops with Jayce. The two become inseparable as their Hextech research gradually becomes relevant. Viktor proved himself to have a gift for craftsmanship, which brought the attention of Singed, a scientist and inventor who relies on controversial methods.

Katie Leung As Caitlyn Kiramman

Date Of Birth: August 8, 1987

• Active Since: 2005

Actor: Caitlyn is played by Katie Leung, who made her movie debut in the Harry Potter franchise as Cho Chang. Leung also appears in The Peripheral, co-starring alongside Chloë Grace Moretz, and the TV show Annika.

Character: Caitlyn's signature getup is one of the best outfits on Arcane, adding up to her serious and self-contained attitude. That's just what she looks like on the surface, though, for Caitlyn's true self is a bold fighter with a hunger for danger and adventure. Although the Kiramman Clan is one of the most influential houses in Piltover, Caitlyn rejects tradition and joins the Enforcers to make the city a place safe and fair for all. She is a close friend of Jayce and develops a strong connection with Vi, trusting her despite Vi not believing in Caitlyn's good heart.

Ellen Thomas As Ambessa

Date Of Birth: February 3, 1964

• Active Since: 1980

Actor: Ellen Thomas is a prolific television actor in the UK. While she’s appeared in movies sporadically throughout her acting career, television is where she’s most often made her work home. She’s best known for her roles in the sitcom Teachers and the soap EastEnders. She’s actually appeared in EastEnders four different times in four different roles. She’s also appeared in multiple roles in the British staple Doctor Who. Thomas is a true character actor.

Character: Thomas gives voice to Ambessa in Arcane. Ambessa is a political leader and the mother of the recurring character Mel. In the first season, she recurs, demonstrating how different she and her daughter are from one another. In the second season, she’s up to regular character status and she’s made her debut in League of Legends as a new champion. She’s known as the Matriarch of War.

Amirah Vann As Sevika

Date Of Birth: June 24, 1980

• Active Since: At Least 2006

Actor: Vann is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and New York is also where she got her professional start. She was a working theater actor for years before landing her first role in 2006 in a short film. While working on stage, she slowly transitioned to film and television with roles in projects like And So It Goes, Tracers, and Girls.

Her big break came in 2016 when she was cast in the series Underground. She earned an NAACP Award nomination for her work. Her best-known roles, however, are likely in How To Get Away With Murder and Queen Sugar, both of which she appeared in for three seasons.

Character: Sevika recurs in the first season as a resident of The Lanes who disagrees with the way Vander runs things. She begins working as an enforcer for Silco when she agrees more with his hands-on approach to getting what he wants. After the time jump, she’s his most senior enforcer. While the character was recurring in the first season, she’s been upgraded to a regular in season 2.

JB Blanc As Vander

Date Of Birth: February 13, 1969

• Active Since: 1990

Actor: JB Blanc got his start in British theater, including three years at London’s Royal National Theater. He’s had a prolific career in both live-action and voice work, even lending his voice to video games and for radio or television characters in live-action movies. He’s voiced multiple characters in the World of Warcraft and Uncharted video games, as well as several Marvel animated projects. Superhero fans, however, will also know him as the voice of Alfred in Beware The Batman.

Character: Blanc originally voices Vander in Arcane, the man who takes Vi, Powder, and several other orphaned kids in when he becomes the leader of the Undercity. When Vander loses his life in the first season during a conflict in which he intends to be arrested instead of his children, fans theorized that he could return to the show as the League of Legends champion Warwick, a mutated being from one of Singed’s experiments. While it’s not confirmed whether Blanc will give voice to Warwick, Warwick will appear in season 2.

Arcane Supporting Cast & Characters

Jason Spisak as Silco: Spisak gives life to Arcane's first major antagonist, a bitter and tyrannical drug lord who pushes Zaun's independence from Piltover through dangerous methods. Spisak is a renowned voice actor who previously worked on many Marvel and DC animated series including Young Justice and Spider-Man.

Reed Shannon as Ekko: Ekko was one of Vi and Powder's childhood friends in Zaun and became the leader of the Firelights, a powerful street gang. Played by Reed Shannon, who also dubs the role in the mobile game Legends of Runeterra, Ekko is the kind of secondary fantasy TV character who steals the show.

Mick Wingert as Heimerdinger: Heimerdinger shouldn't be underestimated by his small stature, as he's the smartest character in the whole show, the Head of the Piltover Council, and the first to see the danger that Jayce and Viktor's project can give rise to. Wingert is a famous voice actor who has already played Iron Man in What If...? and Po in the Kung Fu Panda TV show.

Toks Olagundoye as Mel: Mel is a Noxian who lives in Piltover and a member of the city's ruling council. She is a clever politician and easy to like, despite her manipulative attitude toward other members of the council, especially Jayce, with whom she begins a romantic relationship. Olagundoye is known for her roles as Hayley Shipton in Castle and Jackie in The Neighbors.

Brett Tucker as Singed: Singed is a low-key antagonist in the show. He's a talented, yet unreliable inventor on Arcane who resorts to questionable methods and shows no compassion toward the creatures he exploits in his lab. Singed is voiced by Brett Tucker, who appeared in Mistresses as Harry David and on Station 19 as Lucas Ripley.

Arcane season 2 arrives on Netflix in three installments throughout November 2024.