While the fourth season of Castlevania marked the end of Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades' story, the future of the acclaimed Netflix original animated series remains bright. A new series set in the same narrative universe has officially been announced, this time following vampire hunters Richter Belmont and Maria Renard in 1792 during the height of the French Revolution. And with its shift in protagonists and time period, Richter and Maria have an even more storied place in the classic video game franchise than Richter's ancestors Trevor and Sypha.
Castlevania has always been a generational story, following different members of the Belmont family as they battle against the vampire warlord Dracula and his monstrous armies whenever the Transylvanian count rises from the grave periodically across the centuries. Just as Trevor and Sypha teamed up with Dracula's son Alucard to fight the evil vampire in the 15th century, Richter and Maria seized their monster hunting destiny to confront Dracula in the 18th century when the villain plunge Europe in darkness once again. And the duo appeared together in not one, but two different main installments of the video game series.
Richter and Maria were both introduced in 1993's Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, originally released for the TurboGrafx-16 before being heavily reworked in 1995 for the Super Nintendo as Castlevania: Dracula X. Set in 1792, Dracula rose from the grave and attacked a nearby village, setting it ablaze and kidnapping several young women, including Richter's distant relative Maria and his beloved Annette. The 19-year old vampire hunter set out to rescue the four women and defeat Dracula, with Maria becoming an active combatant against the forces of darkness after Richter freed her from the dark priest Shaft, despite her only being 12 years old at the time.
1997's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night served as a direct sequel to Rondo of Blood, set four years later. After Dracula's castle mysteriously reappears -- despite it a relatively short amount of time since his defeat -- Richter leaves to investigate and abruptly disappears. Alucard awakens from his lengthy slumber and teams up with Maria to search the castle for Richter only to discover that Shaft has the Belmont under mind control while he plots to resurrect Dracula through dark magic. Alucard restores Richter and thwarts Shaft's efforts, resulting in an imperfect revival of his father, which Alucard puts down to bring peace back to Transylvania.
The description of the new series suggests a change in European locale from the usual forests and mountains of Romania to a bloody vision of France. Both the video game franchise and animated series established that Dracula's castle was a mobile structure, with Richter's adventure potentially eschewing Eastern Europe entirely for the French Revolution. And while the beginning of Richter and Maria's story is relatively self-contained, should the new series adapt Symphony of the Night, Alucard is slated to make a big return to take up arms against his father once more, aiding a new generation of Belmont.
Castlevania stars Richard Armitage as Trevor Belmont, Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha Belnades, James Callis as Alucard, Theo James as Hector, Adetokumboh M'Cormack as Isaac, Jaime Murray as Carmilla, Jessica Brown Findlay as Lenore, Bill Nighy as St. Germain, Malcolm McDowell as Varney and Marsha Thomason as Greta. All four seasons are available to stream on Netflix.