This interview has been edited for length.
What is the secret to the series success, and what makesNocturneseason two the best season ofCastlevaniayet?
Adam Deats:Ive always felt weve been chasingCastlevaniaseason two, episode seven for years.
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Its been always hard to beat that moment.
We put in with love and care.
We werent thinking about it that much.
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We just went in wanting to do the best we could as fans of the series.
Thats the best guess that I can make.
When we made that first couple of seasons, we had a very low budget.
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There was a lot of, Is this going to work?
Does anyone care about this sort of thing?
We proved that people did care about seeing adult animation made in the west.
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But its also shown that good stories can be told through adapting video games.
Video games have had stories that can translate to something meaningful.
That was frowned upon by a lot of folks for a long time.
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Samuel:[Laughs] And I apologize for opening the floodgates.
Adam:It is difficult to see it turned into a trend.
Well see how that plays out, but I am happy to see good shows coming out of it.
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That was a really good time.
I just hope that folks continue to come at it from a place of love for what theyre making.
Adam:I think that were just in a right-wing backlash, in general.
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I think the pendulum is swinging, unfortunately, in a certain direction.
Were not the only ones that have been hit by this.
Its been all over the map to a degree thats even tedious.
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Were seeing a very different reaction now, and I dont think thats necessarily because we did anything differently.
I think thats just the landscape that were in right now as a whole.
The reality is that the Haitian Revolution was intrinsically linked to the French Revolution.
Its a historical fact and felt right for the story theyre trying to tell.
Sorry not sorry, I guess.
Samuel:Adam and I are big fans of the games.
We have been very linked to them for most of our lives.
Weve been playing them since the NES era, diving into old forums and all that kind of stuff.
We have been fans for longer than we have been making the show.
The focus was always on Richter, Maria, and Dracula.
What can be done here that ties it into the greater narratives happening?
I fully stand behind that decision.
I think it was very cool.
Weve had disagreements in the past over eight years.
Its going to happen to any production.
We have had disagreements where we thought things were too far away from source material.
And there have been disagreements this season, too.
But we didnt disagree about the decision of Annette.
We felt that was a right call.
Adam:[Laughs] Its a hellscape, man.
And we still had crowd stuff in that episode.
The actual length of that fight and everything was relatively short.
You have to pull back on certain things.
I think its more meaningful from a storytelling perspective.
Its more fun seeing multiple powers clashing, in the case of the group versus Erzsebet.
A lot of people on the team were really excited about it.
[Laughs] We didnt get to fight with a giant Pokemon (I say jokingly).
Stuff like that lends itself to doing something new while sustaining withinCastlevanialore, and thats whats really fun.
Being able to play with old special attacks and sub-weapons and all those things fromCastlevania.
It was really fun to be able to put something like that together.
Adam:Sam was very excited that Juste jumped back into action this season.
He kind of obsessed about ensuring he was present in that last fight.
Samuel:[Laughs] I really wanted his comeback to shine.
So I tried my best with that.
Obviously, Trevor gets to do it, but we get to do a more exciting version of it.
Some of JustesHarmony of Dissonancemagic combination attacks are present throughout this season.
Theyre kind of all over the place in small degrees.
I was pretty happy about that little nod.
Adam:The red flames and the red eyes are loose references todark metamorphosis fromSymphony of the Night.
Thats when Alucard turns on vampire mode and can gain life back from blood.
Adam:No storylines were cut for time, necessarily.
Samuel:I think the most heartbreaking thing was probably that.
I tried moving it somewhere else, and it didnt work there either.
It was like a minute or something like that.
It was still a little painful to have to cut something that I was pretty happy with.
Maybe itll end up in a special feature or something like that in the future.
The animatic for it.
Samuel:Weve been in this boat before when it comes to the wait between seasons.
Then after season four, there was a much longer wait before we were starting anything withNocturne.
I dont want to make any promises.
If it happens, we want to do it right, and that may take time.
No matter what, we are hopeful and confident about what weve made and the future of the franchise.
Well see how that all plays out over the coming months and after season two comes out.
Adam:Cross your fingers for us.
So just hang tight for us, guys.
Adam:Thats hard because there are a lot of them, right?
I think Sam and I have always talked about wanting to get toSymphonyof the Nighteventually.
Theres a weird alternate universe where somehow we do a flashback movie thats just for Juste andHarmony of Dissonance.
I dont know, its tough because theres a lot of places to go.
And the interest in that will hopefully resonate with the audience as well.
Thats unique because previousCastlevaniaseasons tried not to overly reference history in the real world.
So I would say that that stands out.
Theres also unique stuff going on with Annettes journey this season that is unique for theCastlevaniauniverse.
From that perspective, I hope the audience finds something new in those areas.
Samuel:I am excited for folks to see Marias arc this season.
Im hoping that has the weight we think it does.
All eight episodes ofCastlevania: Nocturneare streaming on Netflix.
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