“Nocturne” Season 2 accomplishes a rare feat for Netflix

In the modern age of streaming, very few shows last longer than a season or two. Netflix has earned perhaps the worst reputation as a demolition company all streaming services. While the company commissions and produces a lot of original content each year, very little of it survives the many years that shows often had in the old days of traditional television. Of course there are exceptions, and with the release of the second season of Castlevania: Nocturne there is a big one.

Yes, this is only the second season of Nocturne, but if you look at it as an extension of the original Castlevania series, it is season 6. Most sequel series are standalone entities, but in the case of Castlevania, many core members of the Teams have made the transition between the two shows. Original creator, showrunner and writer Warren Ellis was dropped from the franchise between shows amid misconduct allegations and replaced by a team that included writers Zodwa Nyoni and Temi Oh, as well as new Nocturne showrunner Clive Bradley. However, the directors and animators from Powerhouse Animation Studios led by Adam and Samuel Deats, composer Trevor Morris and producers Kevin Kolde, Fred Seibert and Adi Shankar were there from the start and provided both shows with a lot of cohesive shared universe.

What’s even more impressive than an animated video game adaptation getting six seasons on Netflix is that every single season of Castlevania is spectacular. As the second season of Nocturne delivers another outstanding run of episodes, the series has entered some truly rare company.

It’s hard to make a list of shows that ran for at least six seasons and never lost quality. The sixth season of “Game of Thrones” was controversial, all-time hits like “The Wire” and “Breaking Bad” only ran for five seasons Each of these shows, and many other popular high-genre series such as Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, experienced significant drops in quality.

Some viewers might argue that Castlevania was canceled after Season 2 because Season 3 of the original series is much slower. However, I argue that Season 3 is some of the strongest material in the series, as it gives all the characters time to breathe, develop and explore core themes such as faith, grief, love and loneliness. Season 1 of Nocturne changed things up again, giving the series a slightly younger cast of characters, but the core of what always made Castlevania great remained intact.

Yes, refreshing the story with a new time period and a new cast arguably helps keep things interesting, but it’s no easier to completely change the history of a series than to keep a story arc going for five or six seasons hold. If anything, Nocturne was a big risk when it premiered, as none of the characters fans loved from the previous series were even present in it.

The most apt comparison might be “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “The Legend of Korra.” While Castlevania is a much more violent and adult-oriented series, the Avatar series has a similar animation style, a similar level of supernatural lore, and a close connection between the original and sequel series. In both cases, much of the creative team from the first show moved on to the second, changing the tone and structure but keeping the important things the same.

Ranking each season of “Castlevania” is a challenge because they are all great, but in different ways. However, the second season of Nocturne is at the top of this list. In my opinion it doesn’t surpass Season 2 of the original series, but it has a similar structure, builds tension and has an explosive climax.

The final two episodes of this season contain some of the best action sequences Castlevania has ever seen. Alucard’s Paris-spanning duel with Drolta and the multi-stage team-up against Erzsebet are true feats of animation, no less impressive than Trevor’s fight against death in “Castlevania” Season 4 or the fight against Dracula in Season 2. And beyond that, the character work – something , where “Castlevania” has always excelled – continues to be incredibly strong. Everyone, including the villains and anti-heroes, gets exciting material here. Maria struggles with a devastating mix of grief and anger that nearly destroys her. Olrox grapples with his own morals, which are sometimes enriched by and contradictory to his selfishness.

We don’t yet know if Netflix will renew Castlevania for another season, but at this point it’s an eight-year-old institution and the streamer wouldn’t be the same without it. The video games eventually move beyond the present and into the near future, so there’s plenty of material available for adaptation if Nocturne ends and a third series with a new name follows. Personally, I hope Castlevania runs for another six seasons because after doing so well for so long, I just want to see how far it can go.