Earlier today, Netflix held an event in New York City where they unveiled a number of sneak peeks from their upcoming shows, such asOrange is the New Black Season 5and much more. Buried within these videos were other announcements for new shows, with the streaming service revealing that “CastlevaniaSeason 1, Part 1” is coming to Netflix in 2017. While that certainly isn’t much to go on, it has since been confirmed that this is the same animated series that was essentially unveiled in December byAdventure TimeproducerFrank Seiberton the NickAnimation podcast. Here’s what he had to say during that podcast, although he didn’t mentionCastlevaniaby name.
“We have a project right now that we’re doing that needs to go unnamed, based on one of the most world-famousvideo gamesof the last 30 years, that we’ve had in our shop for 12 years without being able to get it started. But there were great characters and a great story, and eventually we got it going.”
Most fans assumed it wasCastlevaniaafter the podcast, sinceFrank Seibert’s company Frederator Studios currently holds the adaptation rights to theCastlevaniavideo game series.The Globe and Mailoffered even more insight, by revealing that comic book legendWarren Elliswas writing for the new series. There was even talk about this series before then as well, with prolific producer/filmmakerAdi Shankarrevealing on Facebook in 2015 that he was producing a “super-violent” animated series based onCastlevaniawith bothFrank SeibertandKevin Kolde. Earlier today, the producer took to his Facebook page again, to confirm thatWarren Ellishas written both the first and second seasons.
“Castlevaniais aNetflix Original Serieswith Season 1 launching in 2017 and Season 2 in 2018. Furthermore, I personally guarantee that it will end the streak and be the western world’s first good video game adaptation. P.S. A.V. Club, stop saying mean s*** about me. P.S.S.Kevin Koldeis the man and Seasons 1 & 2 were written byWarren f’ing Ellis.”
Shortly after announcing this series on Facebook,Adi Shankarproclaimed that, “the goal is to bring hard hitting anime to America,” adding that he wanted this show to become “America’s first animated series for adults.” He added that the show would be inspired by classic anime shows such asAkira,Ghost in the Shell,Ninja ScrollandYoung Justice. The originalCastlevaniavideo game was released in Japan in 1986, before debuting on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1987. The game followed Simon Belmont, a descendant of the Belmont clan, a family of vampire hunters, who journeys to Dracula’s demonic castle, Castlevania.Adi Shankarconfirmed in 2015 that the mini-series will be based on the third game in the series,Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, which introduced three new characters, a sorceress named Sypha Belnades, the pirate Grant Danasty, and Alucard, the son of Dracula who could shoot fireballs and turn into a bat. Hopefully we’ll find out if these characters will be part of the Netflix series soon.
