Netflix, as a part of their Geeked Week has just announced a spin-off series to their wildly popular Castlevania series. The video game adaptation ran for four seasons with its original cast and is now slated to transition to a new cast and a new setting. The announcement from Netflix laid out a few key details. The lead characters of the new series will be Richter Belmont, distant descendent of previous protagonists Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades and Maria Renard. The series will be set during the French Revolution, over 300 years after the events of the original series.

Richter Belmont is the main character of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, later rereleased as Castlevania: Dracula X, as well as a secondary character in 1997s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. This adaptation, like the previous one will likely pull from many of the classic games. In the game canon bloodline, he is seven generations descended from Trevor and Sypha. His arsenal is comparable to previous Belmont's, he wields the family whip, as well as many sub-weapons.

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Many fans were probably introduced to Richter in 2019's Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, where he is an echo fighter of his great great grandfather Simon Belmont. Richter's personality is pretty standard when compared to most of his kin. Having said that, the adaptation's version of Trevor played up some of the harsher edges of his attitude to create a more engaging characters. Richter could be a brighter, less cynical hero for this new series.

Maria Renard made her first appearance in Rondo of Blood as well, she is a 12-year-old from a rich family with distant ties to the Belmont clan. Maria is a wielder of magic, specifically she summons animals such as doves, cats, turtles and a dragon to attack enemies. Maria reappears in later rereleases of Symphony of the Night, now 16 years old and summoning larger animals. She is bold, outspoken and straightforward, maintaining a greater sense of humor than her counterparts, even in times of crisis. It is unclear which Maria the upcoming series will feature, but in either case, her background and age will differentiate her from the previous seasons' Sypha. While her powers are magical, the focus on animals would create a dramatically different style of combat in action scenes.

A Belmont and a spell caster make up two-thirds of the original trio of protagonists, the third part may just remain unchanged. Alucard does not appear in Rondo of Blood, but fans of the game series would recognize Alucard as the main playable character in Symphony of the Night, wherein he teams up with Richter and Maria to defeat his father Dracula. Fans would realize further that while the Trevor, Sypha, Alucard combo is canon to Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, almost all of the Netflix adaptation's iconography regarding Alucard comes straight from Symphony of the Night. Alucard could easily be a point of confluence with the previous series, fans would likely be outraged if they did not get the chance to see what he's up to 300 years later.

When it comes to antagonists, the games provide us a new face. Rondo of Blood introduces a new threat who maintains prominence in the sequel, the comically named dark priest Shaft. Shaft's motivation is a familiar one for the series, he is an evil magic user who resurrects the series primary antagonist Dracula. Since Dracula's death in season 2, resurrecting the vampire king has been a common goal for evil folks all over the nation, including almost every primary and secondary antagonist of Castlevania seasons 3 and 4. The games make it clear that Dracula operates on a 100 year regeneration cycle, meaning that he will be reborn each century. Either of these could bring everyone's favorite vampire lord back into the mix.

Dracula and Lisa soeaking with lab in background, Netflix

The first four seasons of Castlevania occur in Transylvania, native land of Vlad III Dracula, the real life figure who inspired Dracula. Creators have confirmed that, just like in Rondo of Blood, the setting has moved to France in 1792. Historically, the autumn of 1792 is the period most associated with the French Revolution. During that period, King Louis XVI was forcefully removed from office, the monarchy was abolished and armed mobs lead violent revolts in the streets.

This period of unrest and political violence will make for a fascinating backdrop for a story about gory vampire action. The earlier seasons took place in a destitute area, regularly overtaken by night creatures and defended only poor townspeople. The ruling authorities of Castlevania's setting were often church militias violently enforcing religious doctrine. The mess of alliances and mobs of enraged citizens imprisoning kings and executing prisoners would likely provide a lot of conflict, some of which the writers will likely insert vampires into.

A Castlevania property without Dracula would be a substantial gap in the franchise, as he is its recurring primary antagonist. Despite this, questions are left unanswered regarding the fate of Dracula in the ending of the recently released final season of Netflix's adaptation. In the final scene, Dracula and his beloved wife return from beyond, seemingly as confused as the audience, with the intention to remain unnoticed and travel the world in secret.

Dracula is a deeper character in the show than he has been in most of the games, wherein he is typically a straightforward, natural, inevitable force for evil. The series casts him as the primary villain in the first two seasons, almost exclusively because he is driven mad with vengeance after the loss of his wife. Dracula descends into madness, a common topic of conversation is the downward spiral he suffers over the 2nd season. He dies by his son's hand, having frozen in grief after realizing, in real-time, the evil he is doing. His return in the series conclusion raises questions of where fans will find him in the upcoming spin-off, or if he'll appear at all. Also worth questioning, where does Isaac's new world order stand 300 years down the road?

Castlevania was among the best video game adaptations ever committed to screens, and fans were left clambering for more. The upcoming spin-off might not be available for some time, but the new characters, new threats, new setting, and new questions leave a fascinating trail to follow. Hopefully, the spin-off will live up to the big expectations set by the 4-season long epic currently available.

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