User:Soulbust/draft 1

Soulbust/draft 1
Season 1
Starring	Richard Armitage James Callis Graham McTavish Alejandra Reynoso Tony Amendola Matt Frewer Emily Swallow
No. of episodes	4
Release
Original network	Netflix
Original release	July 7, 2017 (2017-07-07)
Season chronology

The first season of the animated television series Castlevania premiered exclusively via Netflix's web streaming service on July 7, 2017. The season consists of 4 episodes. The season's plot follows Trevor Belmont as he and Sypha Belnades join Alucard to take down Dracula.

Cast and characters

Main

• Richard Armitage as Trevor Belmont, the last living member of the Belmont clan, an excommunicated family of monster hunters.
• James Callis as Adrian "Alucard" Țepeș, the dhampir son of Dracula and Lisa Țepeș, who seeks to protect humanity from his father.
• Graham McTavish as Vlad Dracula Țepeș, a vampire who swears vengeance on humanity for the murder of his wife Lisa, summoning an army of monsters to kill all the people of Wallachia.
• Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha Belnades, a Speaker Magician and the Elder's granddaughter who wields powerful elemental magic.
• Tony Amendola as The Elder, Sypha's grandfather and the leader of a group of Speakers aiding the people of Gresit whom Trevor befriends.
• Matt Frewer as the Bishop, a psychotic clergyman who orders the burning of Lisa Țepeș for witchcraft, later being named the bishop of Gresit.
• Emily Swallow as Lisa Țepeș, Dracula's beloved wife who is burned at the stake in Târgoviște after being falsely accused of witchcraft.

Episodes

Season 1 (2017)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"Witchbottle"	Sam Deats	Warren Ellis	July 7, 2017 (2017-07-07)
In Wallachia in 1455, a young woman named Lisa who wishes to be a doctor seeks out Vlad Dracula Tepes, a vampire with advanced scientific knowledge. Intrigued by her courage and ambition, Dracula agrees to teach her, while she in turn offers to help him reconnect with humanity. The two eventually fall in love and marry. Twenty years later (1475), in the town of Târgoviște, Lisa is burned at the stake after a bishop discovers scientific equipment in her home and accuses her of witchcraft. Devastated after learning of Lisa's death, Dracula declares to the people that they have one year to make their peace, after which every human in Wallachia will die by his hand. His son Adrian tells him to go after the man responsible instead of all of humanity, but Dracula refuses to listen and attacks him. One year later, the archbishop hosts a celebration in defiance of Dracula. As promised, Dracula kills the archbishop, destroys the church and orders his army of demonic Night Creatures to kill every person left in Wallachia. As the army spreads across the land, the people place the blame on the kingdom's noble families, including the Belmonts.
2	2	"Necropolis"	Sam Deats	Warren Ellis	July 7, 2017 (2017-07-07)
Following an altercation at a pub, Trevor Belmont seeks food and respite in the city of Gresit, which has been besieged by Dracula's forces every night. As he passes through town, he learns that the townspeople blame a group of nomadic scholars known as the Speakers for Dracula's assault. He saves their Elder from a pair of corrupt priests, who brings him back to the Speakers' home. Trevor insists they leave the city for their own safety, but the Elder refuses, as his grandchild has gone missing after venturing into the catacombs below the city in search of the "sleeping soldier"; a legendary hero who they believe can defeat Dracula. Begrudgingly, Trevor agrees to retrieve the missing grandchild.
3	3	"Labyrinth"	Sam Deats	Warren Ellis	July 7, 2017 (2017-07-07)
Exploring the catacombs, Trevor realizes that they have been unusually constructed and contain devices matching old family descriptions of devices within Dracula's castle. Finding a stone statue in the visage of a Speaker, Trevor is attacked by a giant cyclops. He defeats the creature, releasing its curse, and rescues the Elder's grandchild, Sypha Belnades. After returning Sypha to her grandfather, Trevor is summoned to the church by the local bishop, the same bishop who ordered Lisa's execution. He orders Trevor to leave Gresit before sundown, as they plan to lead a mob to kill the Speakers, offering to spare Trevor and restore his family name in exchange. With the Speakers refusing to retreat, Trevor has them hidden in the cyclops' chamber and takes on the priests leading the mob before escaping into the city.
4	4	"Monument"	Sam Deats	Warren Ellis	July 7, 2017 (2017-07-07)
Night falls as Dracula's army descends upon Gresit. Night Creatures invade the church, declaring to the bishop that God has abandoned him before killing him. While Trevor continues his escape, Sypha appears to aid him, revealing herself as a powerful magic user. Trevor exposes the clergy's actions as the true reason for Dracula's invasion and assists the people in mounting a defense against the demons. During the battle, the floor crumbles beneath Trevor and Sypha and they fall deep into the submerged catacombs of the city. Making their way in deeper, they find the "sleeping soldier", revealed to be Adrian, who has spent a year healing from his last fight with Dracula. Adrian, now going by Alucard, engages Trevor in battle, but after seeing his and Sypha's resolve, he relents. Alucard reveals that the myth of the "sleeping soldier" was actually from the future and foretold his meeting with Belmont and Sypha, and that he was testing their abilities. The three prepare to challenge Dracula and end the conflict for good.

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series' first season has an approval rating of 83% based on 29 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Castlevania offers spectacular visuals and a compelling adaptation in its all-too-short first season." Critics mostly agreed the season was a promising start, lamenting its brevity, but praising its visuals and story. Dracula being introduced as a sympathetic character was also received positively.

Jesse Schedeen of IGN rated the first season an 8.1/10, writing "Netflix's Castlevania series does justice to the source material, even if the first season is far too short." Schedeen added that "Castlevania immediately starts off on the right foot by focusing not on the Belmont family, but Dracula himself." Matt Geradi of The A.V. Club wrote "while the animation and writing in this first 'season' occasionally stumble along the way, the series' creators have gone above and beyond to wring a resonant story from a game that never really had or needed one."

Ben Gilbert of Business Insider highly praised the season, writing "Somehow, against all expectations and logic, the first Netflix original show derived from a video game is very, very good." Gilbert opined that the season included "sharp writing, beautiful art, and a thoughtful criticism of human existence," and added that "It's this level of sophistication — mixed with a healthy bit of necessary humor and gratuitous hyper-violence — that makes Castlevania such a success."

Writing for Screen Rant, Drew Atchinson opined that "probably the worst thing about season one of Castlevania was how short it was." Atchinson added that "the season came to an end on a high note" with its final episode, praising "Monument"'s final scene.

Ollie Barder, a Forbes contributor, wrote retrospectively of the season, stating that "the first season was only four episodes and was mostly a cautious aperitif, to see if an animated adaptation of Castlevania would stick." Barder added that "while there is a fair bit of gore and fighting in these first four episodes," the first season mainly functioned to lay a narrative foundation for the series. Also writing following the end of the series, Gamespot writer Justin Clark stated that "the first two seasons of the show are only [archetypal] in that they're exactly what you'd expect from Warren Ellis around the time they were originally written."