It’s rather fitting that Netflix’s latest Castlevania-related announcement, one which involves the show’s starry voice cast, comes by way of Dracula himself – or at least the actor on board to play the supernatural menace.
As you’ll see from the video above, that task has fallen at the feet of Graham McTavish (Outlander, The Hobbit), who stands alongside the show’s producer and all-around figurehead, Adi Shankar (Dredd).
Even if you only have a passing interest in Konami’s video game classic, you’ll know that Castlevania largely centers on the Belmont clan and their seemingly never-ending quest to defeat Count Dracula and bring a sense of peace to Transylvania and the rest of Eastern Europe. Leading that revolt against Vlad Dracula Tepe and his wicked ways is Richard Armitage. He’ll voice vampire hunter Trevor Belmont in Netflix’s adaptation, which is a major coup for the series considering Armitage played Thorin in Peter Jackson’s celebrated Hobbit trilogy.
Other cast members on board include James Callis (Battlestar Galactica) as Alucard, Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha Belnades, and Emily Swallow (The Mentalist) as Lisa Tepes, the wife of Dracula and mother to Alucard. Capping off today’s announcement, McTavish and Shankar also confirmed the addition of Matt Frewer (Orphan Black) as The Bishop and Tony Amendola as The Elder.
Pitched as a dark medieval fantasy split into two chapters, both of which are comprised of four animated episodes, Castlevania aims to be a faithful rendition of Konami’s pixelated classic, one that’s able to strike a balance between appeasing old-school fans and attracting new ones. Whether it can break the curse of video game adaptations, though, is another question entirely.
Castlevania will begin streaming via Netflix on July 7th. It’ll be comprised of four 30-minute episodes, before a second, conclusive season airs in 2018.
