https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIMrFnl5NiA
On May 24th, 2017, Netflix released the first official trailer for its upcoming original animated series, Castlevania, set to premiere on July 7th, 2017. For those who might not be familiar with that title, Castlevania is the name of a long running video game series that dates back to the 1986 Nintendo game of the same name. Developed and published by Konami, the games follow the adventures of Simon Belmont and his bloodline, all of whom are tasked by destiny to wield the fabled Vampire Killer whip against the continued reincarnations of Dracula. The Netflix series will be the franchise’s first foray into an animation and promises to feature a different member of the Belmont family than what the games have portrayed.
Screenshot from Castlevania, via Netflix.
Despite being based on a Japanese video game franchise, Castlevania is not actually an anime, as it’s being produced, written, and animated outside of Japan. Frederator Studios is responsible for the animation. Of their numerous projects, the most well-known are Adventure Time and The Fairly Oddparents. But don’t let that pedigree make you think this is a light-hearted children’s show. The series is written by Warren Ellis, a comic book writer known for his work on a variety of titles, primarily X-Men, the Iron Man: Extremis storyline, and his original series, Red which was later turned into a 2010 film starring Bruce Willis. The executive producer and showrunner is Adi Shankar, whose biggest claims to fame are producing the Liam Neeson action/drama The Grey, and the 2012 Judge Dredd film.
Netflix must have confidence in the project since they ordered two seasons of the show to start. IGN reports that the first season will be four episodes in length, with each installment being 30 minutes long. However, they also reported that the series is actually listed as Castlevania: Season 1: Part 1, implying that what we’re set to view on July 7th may not be the entirety of the first season.
Screenshot from Castlevania, via Netflix.
It might be worth noting that the series premiere date is numerically written out as 7/7/17; a point I’m sure was not lost on Netflix considering the religious significance of “777” and the religious imagery that exists in the Castlevania series of games (Dracula even quotes the book of Matthew in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night). So perhaps this July release is just a taste of what’s to come.
Either way, the prospect of a Western produced Castlevania series is certainly a unique one. Fans of the games know full well that its parent company, Konami, has done little to nothing with the intellectual property over the last few years. Perhaps this animated project is just what the franchise needs to reawaken it from its coffin, and prove it still has some bite left in it.
