Riot Games Joins Hands With Paramount for New League of Legends Series “Players”

Paramount+ has confirmed that “Players”, a League of Legends mockumentary, will be released in 2022. It described the sitcom as a “comedic docu-style series exploring the world of Esports” through a fictional North American League of Legends team in pursuit of the championship. It released the first image of the Players sitcom and introduced the audience to the team of pros who will be starring in the show.

It was a few months ago that the idea of Players was initially thrown around. In an interview in Aug 2021, LCS Commissioner Chris Greeley had shed more light on the show. The League of Legends community is ecstatic to hear about the show that has now brought some ex-pro players to the fore, as actors.

The first promotional photograph posted by Paramount+ features the five players of the LCS team that the show is based on. Analyst Michael "Miko" Ahn, Immortals Academy bot-laner Noh “Arrow” Dong-hyeon, and mid-laner Jung “Youngbin” Young-bin are some of the familiar faces featured in the poster. What roles they will play in the show is still unclear.

League of Legends’ Players is a mockumentary

For better understanding, a mockumentary is a fictional documentary that often parodies the seriousness of regular documentaries. It puts together shaky camera angles, B-roll shots, and eccentric characters. So when Players is called a mockumentary, the audience can expect it to be a caricature version of what an esports team goes through.

“Players is a comedic documentary-style series that follows a fictional pro League of Legends esports team, as they pursue their first championship after years of close calls and heartache. To win it all, they will need their prodigy, a 17-year-old rookie, and their 27-year-old veteran to put their egos aside and work together,” read the show’s description on IMDb.

The series will focus on the group trying to overcome its differences and aim for the title of LCS champions. The funny, chunky-looking keyboards held by the cast of the show give the audience a glimpse of what to expect from the show.

Who are the co-creators of Players

CBS will produce the series in association with Funny or Die and Riot Games, along with Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda as executive producers. Perrault and Yacenda is the duo behind American Vandal, a Netflix mockumentary on true-crime documentaries. The show was critically acclaimed and the creators were lauded for their unique takes on the genre.

The mockumentary’s announcement comes in at the perfect moment, as the League of Legends community is yet to fully come out of its Arcane-phase. While the actual date of release of Players is still unknown, the community is still rejoicing the fact that Riot is treating the fans to another show in such a short span.

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