At the end of last month, Netflix confirmed season four of the Castlevania animated series was happening. It seemingly confirmed the third season had done well, but just how well? According to the writer and producer, Warren Ellis, it's managed to outperform the previous season – with the number of viewers increasing overall.
What I can say is that season 3’s popularity was an order of magnitude over that of season 2, and season 2 was popular enough to get us season 3. It turns out season 3 did, really, shockingly well. Shows tend to show a little attrition in the third season, and it was, quote, “unusual” to see the audience actually rise by a multiple factor.
While no exact figures could be revealed, for a week or two, the third season of Castlevania made it into Netflix's top 10 across 40 countries. Ellis added to this by saying the show had an audience of "many, many millions" and that the numbers are enough to compete against live-action dramas on Netflix.
Like everything else at the moment, viewership has likely increased due to the current social isolation measures in place due to the coronavirus outbreak. Speaking of which, Ellis said he didn't "expect too much of a covid-related delay" for season four.
Have you watched season three of Castlevania? If you haven't got around to it yet, take a look at our review.
[source warrenellis.ltd]
Comments 27
I loved 3rd season! I can't wait to see more on Isaac , becoming one of my favorite characters. and I wanna just huge Sypha.
Glad it's getting love - it was a great season. Hopefully many of these folks will eventually get around to season 2, which was really special.
Season three was quite a bit better than season two especially how they managed to juxtapose the different endings so well and ratchet the tension up. The way season three ended could've been a rather boring mess like the last episode of season two of Star Trek Discovery.
If I had fast enough internet to stream I'm sure I'd watch it if I could convince my brother to give me his password, so if I need vampires I guess I'm stuck watching Shiki or Interview with Monster Girls or Actually, I Am or Cowboy Bebop which might not have vampires but I haven't watched it in a while. See you, space cowboy...
Do I have to be into the games in order to enjoy this show?
I wonder will Konami look at the success of the show and what happened with the Witcher and beside to make new games.
@outsider83 Nope. It's its own thing. There are small callbacks to the games here and there, but nothing more than that.
I honestly think more people watched it this season because of all of the sex in that one episode.
looks at Game of Thrones
looks at Ishuzoku Reviewers
looks at Season 3
Shocking! Really! You don't say! Hey everyone, sex sells! Isn't that shocking!
(For the record, I'm fine with sex in media if it makes sense to the story and isn't pandering.)
The show is fantastic and gets more and more enjoyable with each new season.
Bring on season 4!
I am a huge fan of Castlevania and couldn`t even finish Season 3. I would like them to make Soma-centric season. First have Julius and 1999 battle in one season (finally seeing the light of day in some way) and following seasons have Soma and his story.
Honestly found it way less gripping, myself. Tried several times to watch the first half of the season without falling asleep, then just stopped there.
I watched all 3 seasons more of less back to back over a 2 day period. I like season 1 and 2 more but 3 wasnt too bad.
Season 1 was too short, Season 2 was longer but the storyline was a bit wishy washy, Season 3 I loved except the random Alucard story
Nope sorry. To much of crap that has no place in the series at all. I will not be watching anymore because of it.
Hopefully in season 4 we finally get Grant.
I liked the season but they handled Alucard so badly.
Some points from me:
1. Issac is getting very interesting. I did not like him at first but now he is getting powerful.
2. Alucard threesome was disgusting and I wish to erase it from my memory. But that is Netflix they like putting unnecessary sexual stuff that has ZERO building of characters.
3. The story of St. Germain and Trevor/Sypha was really nice and I loved it. Judge deserved more painful death.
I loved the third season. Definitely the best and most shocking without question. I can’t wait to see the war between Isaac and the vampires. The ending of this season was really shocking.
What I’m curious about is to how they plan to resurrect Dracula.
I enjoy all the seasons and I feel the Alucard events of Season 3 are a set up for character development for the next season for him. Haven't played the games, but curious. Was Alucard antagonistic towards Richter at first in the games?
@Saro In Castlevania III Dracula's Curse in which Alucard is a boss and Trevor fights him. After that they might team up against Dracula.
In Symphony of the Night Alucard fought against Richter but just because he was controlled my the evil priest Shaft.
@Zuljaras So there's no fallout between the lore of the two games regarding the Belmonts and Alucard?
@Saro Well the events of Dracula's Curse occur in 1476 on which the Animation is based on.
After that Alucard entombs himself again and awakens in 1797. He know the Belmont clan but does NOT know Richter.
The original resurrection cycle of Dracula is once every 100 years but there are many worshippers around the world that find ways to resurrect him early. That is the cycle until the year 1999 where Julius Belmont seals the Castle of Dracula (Castlevania which is his symbol of power) in a Solar eclipse in Japan with the help of the Hakuba clan.
Alucard is there and helps Julius but with fake identity, different name and look.
@Zuljaras okay, looks like the animation is leading up to Alucard entombing himself or something original.
@Saro Well Hector is the good guy and Issac is the bad guy but they will do it differently. As Castlevania Curse of Darkness starts after the events of Castlevania III Dracula's Curse.
I wasn't initially a big fan of the show with season 1, but I came to really appreciate it and season 3 had a strong sense of place and good characterization, with some intense moments for all major players. I also seemed alot more focused to me, with a clear narrative purpose from the 1st episode through to the finale. Pacing was never an issue.
I'm still not 100% in love with the animation and some of the designs, esp. the monsters, but having just watched one episode of the GitS show, I can safely say that Castlevania looks grand by comparison. I do hope that monster design will further improve. That was always something I appreciated about Castlevania, and while not bad, it is also not something I can hugely laude this show for so far - which is a shame imho.
I still think that there is the issue that much of what made the game's work, is really lost on the show. I do feel in that regard Season 3 did a bit better though, at least if you compare it to Lord of Shadows. It would be grand if the could recapture some of the sensation given by the game's dungeon crawling, exploration and tight combat.
I acknowledge that this is a hard task, but outside of a few particular sequences (like the one when they find Alucard), they did not even try, which is shame. Season 3 at least, starts out with a strong combat scenario, that does feel "game'y" in a good way imho (again, I think referencing the 3D games, like Lord of Shadows, is way easier here than the 2D ones).
The third season was great. Maybe people just like men being subservient to women. Walking them on leashes. Calling them servant. Having a lesbian vampire cult. The final ep was packed with anime sex.
It could also be a quarantine thing.
Season 3 was amazing. Actually the whole series has been great so far. I can’t wait for season 4.
I hope they get less episodes per season and tell a tighter story. S3 was a bloated borefest for most of the season, which could of worked in 4 episodes.
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