Castlevania has remained a favorite video game franchise since its first release by Konami in 1986. Over the years, the franchise has amassed a good number of game titles to its name, the latest being the 2014 release Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2.
Warren Ellis created a cinematic adaptation of the story with the Netflix dark fantasy series Castlevania in 2017 (you should certainly check it out if you haven’t seen it yet), developed by Powerhouse Studios. The series followed the story of Trevor Belmont, a descendant of the famed vampire hunter family, taken directly from the 1989 entry of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse and further explored the origins of Adrian ‘Alucard’ Tepes from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Needless to say, the series was a big hit among the fans of the franchise and newcomers alike. Fans were disappointed, however, with the news of the series ending in the fourth season in 2021.
A recent turn of events has the fans hooked, however—the launch of a 41-second teaser on Netflix’s YouTube channel for Castlevania: Nocturne. Though the teaser offers no information towards the plot of the upcoming series and Castlevania Nocturne release date, it is very much evident that the fans of the franchise will get to meet another of their favorite characters—Richter Belmont!
Who Is Richter Belmont?
For those who are familiar with the Castlevania games, Richter is a descendant of Trevor Belmont. Richter was first introduced to the fans in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. Richter’s story in the games sets in the 17th century during the French Revolution where he sets out to save his girlfriend Annette from Dracula’s castle and thanks to Maria Renard, another former captive of Dracula, he vanquishes many cultists and monsters.
Initially, Netflix had released a different origin for Richter. He was portrayed as the son of Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades, the protagonists of the series. There was slight confusion in this, however.
Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades are shown battling the horde of night monsters in the late 14th century. The fans of the series and the games, who are rather familiar with Richter’s backstory, were rather outraged by this sudden change in the Castlevania lore and Netflix took it upon themselves to quickly rectify this.
As it stands now, Richter is a distant descendant of Trevor and Sypha who has taken up the mantle of the vampire hunter in his fight to rid the world of monsters.
Netflix can surely offer a lot with a lot less! The teaser is a rollercoaster of thrill in itself. The teaser opens with the voice of what apparently sounds like an old man who warns Richter against blindly trusting someone—some ‘her’.
The woman defends herself saying she has no choice to which the man comments “there’s always a choice” and the woman just retorts with a sad “I’m sorry Richter”. The situation even in this form is quite thrilling! There is almost a certain probability that Richter is forced upon or manipulated by this ‘her’ in the presence of this old man.
The woman in question must be very close to Richter, at least at this point, to have such power over him and also feel sad about the whole situation at the same time. This is followed by several random statements from different characters including a young girl and a priest (if at all be speculated) and a demonic laugh. We even get to hear Alucard in the teaser, “so a part of you has died”. Excited yet?
The Return of The Cast
Well, it’s already established that Alucard is back in this series somehow. So, the fans can expect the serene voice of James Callis back in action. If the series has any similarity to the story in the games, Richter is definitely fighting Dracula in some form or the other, so we should get to hear more of Graham McTavish as the master vampire.
It’s sad, though, that we may not hear the iconic voices of Richard Armitage and Alejandra Reynoso as Trevor and Sypha.
Castlevania Nocturne Release Date!
Netflix has merely released that the series is still in development under the guidance of Kevin Kolde, who was part of the production team for the previous Castlevania series, alongside British screenwriter Clive Bradley.
Netflix hasn’t announced any probable release date for the series yet, but we will keep you guys posted once we get a word of this!
Until then—watch, I suggest you guys reminisce about the Castlevania series and stay tuned for more updates on other exciting anime from Anime Ukiyo! Mata ne!
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