In a rare act of restraint, it took me an entire four days to watch the eight episodes of Netflix's new Castlevania series, Castlevania: Nocturne. It really was worth savoring: season after season Powerhouse Animation Studios has upped its game, and it's been nearly two-and-a-half years since the final season of the show's original run concluded. That was a lot of waiting, but it sounds like the wait for more Nocturne will be shorter.
Today Netflix returned Nocturne has been greenlit for season 2, and the team even had a teaser trailer ready to go.
"SEASON 2 of Castlevania: Nocturne is OFFICIALLY IN PRODUCTION!!!" co-director Samuel Deats wrote on Friday. "Those are ACTUAL Storyboards, Layouts, and Animation for Season 2. 😁 .... Sorry to keep you waiting. Won't be quite so long this time."
Given Nocturne's next season already has storyboards and some animation finished, it's safe to say Netflix had already greenlit the continuation before season one even aired; it was a surefire thing, short of a disastrous debut. Considering I've seen Castlevania sitting in the trending bar on Netflix, I'm gonna guess the launch has gone A-OK.
I'm thrilled to see Nocturne continue: I loved the original Castlevania series, and while I do find myself missing its characters and tone a bit in Nocturne, this new season has been a confident work of adult animation. It's set in the late 1700s and turns threadbare characters from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood into people with real depth and historical grounding. For example, Annette in Rondo of Blood has little role outside "Richter's girlfriend;" in Nocturne, she's an escaped slave from Haiti who's made her way to France to join in the French Revolution and fight the vampires aligned with the aristocracy.
Instead of Dracula, the big bad this time around is Elizabeth Bathory. Who's to say she wasn't actually a vampire IRL? I mean, I wasn't around in 1790s France. I'm not gonna take beef with Nocturne's version of history.
Bigtime Castlevania fans are likely all hoping that Nocturne spends a couple seasons telling the story of Rondo of Blood before continuing on to its sequel, the far more famous Symphony of the Night. If Nocturne runs four seasons like its predecessor, that seems like a safe bet—and based on how much Powerhouse Animation has managed to enrich the source material so far, I can't wait to see how that goes.
Rondo of Blood sadly isn't available on PC, but one of the characters in season 1 does star in another game, Harmony of Dissonance, and his story looks like it'll play a significant role in Nocturne's second season. You can find that one in the Castlevania Advance Collection on Steam.
