Netflix Cancels Castlevania, Will End With Season 4

Netflix’s Castlevania series is one of the best video game adaptations ever. Beginning with a loose retelling of 1989 NES effort Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse‘s plot, the adventures of Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades and Alucard Tepes have produced three seasons of kick ass supernatural fight scenes, some extremely funny dialogue and an overarching story that expands on the classic gaming franchise.

We’ve known that a fourth outing was in the pipeline for some time, though up until now we’ve had no news about when it’ll land. Well, we’ve finally got word on just that, as Deadline reports that it’ll be here on May 13th. However, on a much sadder note, it’ll also be the last run, as Netflix has unfortunately cancelled the show. The outlet notes, though, that the streaming giant “is eyeing a new series set in the same Castlevania universe with an entirely new cast of characters.”

There’s no further word on what that may be, but if you need a bit of a recap before jumping into the next batch of episodes, the third season landed just over a year ago and began a fresh arc that didn’t seem to be directly adapting any of the games. With Dracula having been defeated and sent to hell, the main threat came from a quartet of lady vampires planning a military invasion to secure their human food. Led by the sadistic and intelligent Camilla, we saw them seduce and enslave forgemaster Hector, who seems destined to create an army of night creatures for them.

Meanwhile, Trevor and Sypha investigated a village beset by creepy monks, Alucard tried to train a pair of Japanese teenagers in the art of vampire killing, and Isaac gathered his own hideous army and travelled north to attack Camilla’s castle. The new episodes should see all these plot lines dovetail and if prior seasons are any indication, it’ll be a whole bunch of fun.

The only real shame is that the popularity of the TV show hasn’t led to any further Castlevania games being announced. It’s been seven years since Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and I’m itching for more whip-based vampire-slaying to a toe-tapping soundtrack. Oh well, at least we have spiritual successor series Bloodstained to carry the torch.