Castlevania (animated series)

Castlevania is an animated series originally based on the game Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, released on Netflix worldwide. The first season consists of four episodes of 23-25 minutes each, which all premiered on July 7th, 2017.

The series is based on the Dracula's Curse story, incorporating elements from other games such as Symphony of the Night and Curse of Darkness. It features Trevor Belmont as the main protagonist, on a quest to stop the evil Count Dracula who seeks to destroy humanity following the execution of his wife Lisa.

The series was well-received by fans and critics, who praised its animation, visuals and story, though Season 1 was criticized as being too short.

A second season was ultimately confirmed by Adi Shankar and released on October 26th, 2018, after being delayed from a July 2018 release. A third season was confirmed on June 7, 2018.

Synopsis
"A vampire hunter fights to save a besieged city from an army of otherworldly beasts controlled by Dracula himself. Inspired by the classic video game."

- Official Netflix synopsis

Season 1

 * Castlevania
 * Targoviste, Wallachia
 * Gresit, Wallachia

Season 2

 * Castlevania
 * Gresit
 * Belmont Hold
 * Braila

Original movie project
In March 2007, writer Warren Ellis announced that he was working on a DVD movie adapted from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse along with former Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi. Ellis explained that as he worked with Igarashi to fit the timeline of the series, including writing a new story, Igarashi had eight rewritten pre-production materials, before concluding with a draft that he turned in August 2008.

After that, however, nothing else was heard about the project until February 2017, when co-producer Adi Shankar and Netflix announced it would be released as a series. Kevin Kolde and Fred Seibert are also signed on, as are Seibert's animation company, Frederator Studios.

Netflix project
The show influences has been described by the producer Adi Shankar to be from Japanese anime such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll, as well as western animation such as Young Justice. It has also been stated by Shankar to be "R-rated as f**k", "super-violent", and to have a Game of Thrones vibe.

The series was written by Warren Ellis, who was in charge of writing the script for the now defunct Dracula's Curse animated movie adaptation. Ellis worked at Marvel and developed Hellstorm: Prince of Lies, the acclaimed cyberpunk series Transmetropolitan, and more recently the award-winning FreakAngels series. The movie Red is based on his graphic novel, Red.

Promotion and release
A teaser trailer was released on May 24th, 2017. The series was finally released worldwide at midnight (PST time) on July 7th, 2017. Season 2 was officially announced a few hours later on the same day of the release.

On the day of the release of season 1, Netflix officially announced a second season consisting of 8 episodes to premiere in 2018. In January 19th, 2018, Warren Ellis stated that the second season was to arrive in Summer 2018. On July 25, 2017, Richard Armitage (Trevor Belmont's voice actor) announced they had completed the voice work for season 2. An official trailer was released three days later on July 28.

On October 16, 2018, Netflix and the American Red Cross organized together an event called "Dracula's Blood Drive", a blood donation campaign, at the Los Angeles Film School. Donators would receive exclusive merchandising and would attend a screening of episode 1 of season 2, ten days before the official release. Voice actress Alejandra Reynoso and director Samuel Deats participated to the event.

Season 2 was released worldwide at midnight (PST time) on the expected date. All eight episodes were available.

Future
On June 7, 2018, it was confirmed that the series was renewed for a third season and that production would begin in the near future. Producer Adi Shankar confirmed on October 31 that Netflix had greenlit 10 new episodes.

Home media
Season 1 is set to be released on December 4, 2018 on Blu-Ray and DVD. The package contains storyboards, an art gallery and other special features.

Music
The music from the series was composed by Trevor Morris. He also composed the main title theme.

The soundtrack to season 1 was released as digital download and physical CD.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * The second teaser poster released for this series is inspired by the cover art from the original Castlevania video game, which in turn was based on Norseman, a painting by Frank Frazetta.


 * The date when Season 2 of the series is planned to be released, October 26, 2018, coincides with the launching date of the PlayStation 4 compilation game Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood.
 * Adi Shankar cites Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D and Captain Harlock as inspirations for the show's animation style.

Related products

 * Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse — The game this series is based on.
 * Castlevania: Symphony of the Night — Another game that served as inspiration for the series.
 * Castlevania: Curse of Darkness — Another game that served as inspiration for the series.
 * Castlevania Music from the Netflix Original Series — The soundtrack to Season 1.