Halloween is just around the corner, and Netflix is gearing up to welcome an anime befitting of the spooky season. So, it only makes sense for the company to break out a Castlevania comeback to celebrate, right?
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This weekend, fans will get the chance to see the second season of Castlevania after the hit original series wowed fans following its debut. Recently, ComicBook.com had the chance to speak with showrunner Adi Shankar about the upcoming release, and the creator wants fans to know how excited he is for season two to go public.
“I’m super pumped. Season two is better than season one. It’s just better than season one. We were literally just fixing the last episode last weekend – literally on Friday – and it’s better than season one,” Shankar explained when asked about the new season.
Continuing, Shankar went on to detail the steps which led him to pitching Castlevania to Netflix, and the producer admitted he was blown away by the fandom which has cropped up from the anime’s release.
“[Castlevania] is something I knew I liked, and then we recruited other people to work on the show who are all fans, right? That’s why we said that the show was made by fans for fans, but I had no idea that the fan-base was large at all. I try to, in my life and in this career, reject the idea of running towards whatever is popular at the moment…because then you end up in that weird vapid zone where you’re not really doing things that speak to you,” Shankar explained. “I’m just like, ‘Yo, we made this show.’ And the fact that it’s such a juggernaut for Netflix is crazy.”
When season two drops this week, fans can expect to encounter plenty of new obstacles sitting before the Belmont clan. The family of vampire hunters may be strong, but even the most powerful fighters would cower before Dracula. The legendary vampire is on a crusade against humanity following his wife’s death, and new villains like Carmilla will only make things more complicated for the show’s leads.
With so many moving parts spinning, Shankar admits he’s not the type of creator who approaches stories on the fly; Careful planning goes into each step of Castlevania‘s creative process, and Shankar says he looks to titles like Dragon Ball when it comes to evolving the show’s tone and direction.
“I think that’s the beauty of Dragon Ball, right? When you adjust from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball Z, it’s so different,” the producer says. “They’re literally jumping genres on some level. Not saying that we’re going ot jump genres, but what I am saying is that’s just such an inspirational thing for a show that’s had longevity versus a show like The Simpsons which gets frozen in a holding pattern of repetition.”
With season two on the way, Castlevania has plenty of time to set up its gothic world for a story epic enough to impress even Son Goku. It will fall to fans to give their feedback on the anime’s next outing, leaving Shankar and his team with all the notes needed to make history. After all, Castlevania has become know as one of the best – if not the best – adaptations of a video game. The series’ history is plenty rich to support an anime, and audiences are eager to see what the show will explore next.
Netflix will release Castlevania season two on Friday, October 26. You can check out the show’s synopsis below:
“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 animated series is from Frederator Studios, a Wow! Unlimited Media company, written by best-selling author and comic book icon Warren Ellis and executive produced by Warren Ellis, Kevin Kolde, Fred Seibert and Adi Shankar.”
So, will you be watching this new season when it drops? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
