Fans might not have observed this, but Netflix’s Castlevania went through a lot of significant changes after the second season of the series. Starting with the third season, the episode count increased, and the story put more emphasis on the aspects that were taken from the popular Konami video game on which the series is based.
The writer and co-showrunner of Castlevania, Warren Ellis, is the man responsible for bringing the dark vampire-filled world of Castlevania to the anime universe and making one of the best video game adaptations of all time. However, the shocking fact is that Ellis has never played the Castlevania video game in his life.
Ellis once revealed that he has no knowledge of the video game and its narrative, and all the information that he has included in the series came from Wikipedia and other fan pages. But Ellis had a pretty valid reason for not consulting the Castlevania video games and choosing to rely on websites like Wikipedia.
Warren Ellis Has No Real Knowledge of Castlevania Video Game
When the third season of Castlevania came out, Ellis and the executive producer of the series, Kevin Kolde, were interviewed by The Verge, and they were asked about their knowledge of the Castlevania video game by Konami. Ellis confessed that he has never played the games, and everything he has learned about them came from fan pages.
Ellis stated:
Famously, I never played the games, so I have no real knowledge of the series except what’s on Wikipedia or a fan page. But as I had the opportunity to broaden the cast and introduce new characters, Saint Germain leapt out to me because I’ve always been fascinated by that period of itinerant magicians and astrologists touring the great courts of Europe and doing people’s charts for coins.
The writer also pointed out that the third season gave him the creative liberty to broaden the cast and introduce new characters, which is why he relied on more information from the games and decided to include Saint Germain as he was fascinated by the time period of Europe.
Warren Ellis’ Legitimate Reason for Not Playing Castlevania Video Games
Talking about video games, Warren Ellis explained that he has no technological device to play them. He uses an old ThinkPad and is not very proficient with technology. The writer also revealed that he has only owned one video game console that was given to him by his grandfather for Christmas, way back in 1982.
Ellis revealed:
I’ve got nothing I can play the games on! I’m sitting here in front of an old ThinkPad. I’ve never actually owned a games console apart from the Atari my granddad gave us for Christmas in like 1982 or something. So I wouldn’t even know how.
According to Kolde, the directors of Castlevania, Sam and Adam Deats, were huge Castlevania fanatics, and they knew much about video games, which helped them include those aspects in the series.
Although the Castlevania anime series does not follow the video game to the core, it includes many narratives and plot points that connect the series to the video game and offer fans a similar experience.
You can watch Castlevania on Netflix.
