Netflix has officially picked up an anime series based on Konami’s action horror video game franchise Castlevania.
“Inspired by the classic video game series, ‘Castlevania’ is a dark medieval fantasy following the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hand of Vlad Dracula Tepe himself.”
The show’s producer Adi Shankar took to Facebook to confirm that the first season will air in late 2017 and the second season in 2018.
Dredd and The Grey producer Adi Shankar revealed back in 2015 on Facebook that he along with Frederator Studios’ Fred Seibert and Kevin Kolde would be developing it with him.
Seibert and Kolde are highly respected in the animation industry being behind animated series such as The Fairly Odd Parents and Adventure Time.
Adi spoke to Collider about the project, invoking adult anime icons Akira and Ghost In The Shell along with confirming that the series would be based on Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse focusing on lineage hero Trevor Belmont. Although, it’s been said that the series will be centered on a new Belmont.
In this prequel to the original Castlevania, Simon Belmont’s ancestor Trevor Belmont takes up the cause of defeating Dracula with the help of three others, including Dracula’s own son, Alucard.
The year is 1476, and Count Dracula has started to ravage Europe with an army of monsters. The Belmont family of vampire hunters, once exiled from Wallachia, are called into action by the Church. They feared the Belmonts’ “super-human” power, but with Dracula menacing to swallow Europe in darkness, they are left with no choice but to call Trevor Belmont, current wielder of the Vampire Killer Whip.
Joining Trevor Belmont in his mission to defeat Dracula are three new playable characters: Sypha Belnades, a young sorceress with poor physical attack power but powerful elemental magic spells at her disposal; Grant Danasty, a pirate with the ability to climb on walls and change direction in mid-jump (a rare ability in earlier games of the series); and Alucard, Dracula’s son, a dhampir with the ability to shoot fireballs and transform into a bat. Trevor can be accompanied by only one companion at a time. If he chooses to take on another he must abandon his current companion. The player can “spiritually transform” between Trevor and his ally with the “select” button. Both Trevor and whoever is accompanying him share the same health meter. The ending of the game differs depending on which companion Trevor has with him at the time, or if he does not take another character with him at all.
I’d love to see the series take design cues from anime flick Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.
In 2006, comic book writer Warren Ellis confirmed he was writing an animated film for Project 51 Productions. Adi confirms on Facebook that Ellis is also involved with this incarnation as well.
We are hoping that Shankar establishing a working relationship with Netflix could help lead to a Dredd sequel or series landing on the platform.
SOURCE: NETFLIX & ADI SHANKAR