News broke yesterday via press release that a Castlevania animated series would be coming to Netflix later this year. Yes, it's the same project that producer Adi Shankar has been working on alongside Frederator Studios' Supervising Producer Kevin Kolde and award-winning writer Warren Ellis, and that should have you very, very excited. While the Netflix press released confirmed that Castlevania would indeed be coming to the streaming service later this year, we wanted to dig a little deeper to see just what we could unearth about this adaptation of one of the best franchises in video game history.

Back in August of 2015, we talked to Shankar about his "super-violent" plans for Castlevania, which is now another step closer to being unveiled for hungry audiences to devour. Shankar is a super producer behind such projects as The GreyDredd, The Punisher: Dirty Laundry, Venom: Truth in Journalism, Judge Dredd: Superfiend, and a brutally reimagined Power Rangers short, but it's his passion for creating animated works on par with the best Japanese anime has to offer that makes him perfect for this project.

Here's how Shankar shared the news, via his Facebook page:

And here's what the press release entailed, in addition to the 2017 release date:

Inspired by the classic video game series, Castlevania is a dark medieval fantasy following the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hand of Vlad Dracula Tepe himself. The animated series is from Frederator Studios, a Wow! Unlimited Media company, written by best-selling author and comic book icon Warren Ellis and executive produced by Warren Ellis, Kevin Kolde, Fred Seibert and Adi Shankar.

While there wasn't a lot of info available, we were able to chat with Shankar on the phone about the project. Without getting into specifics, the tone of the series should feel quite familiar:

The show has a Game of Thrones vibe to it.

castlevania-animated-series-netflix
Image via Konami

If you're picturing Game of Thrones as an animated series, you're on the right track. And that's a good track to be on since Shankar has big plans for Castlevania:

I'm personally guaranteeing that this is going to be the best fucking video game adaptation ever made to date ... I've seen it, and it's fucking amazing.

From our previous chat, a few things still apply: They're still basing the story on the video game "Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse" and it's going to be a "super R-rated" take, similar to anime like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll and Young Justice. To put it simply: This shit is not for kids.

As for his creative partners, they're some of the best in the business, like producer Kevin Kolde:

He's truly a legend in the animation sphere.

And writer Warren Ellis:

You know how most TV shows have writers rooms and stuff? This one doesn't. Warren just wrote all the scripts. It's totally his voice. He's amazing.

While I'm very excited to find out more about this project--which we certainly will in the weeks and months ahead--Shankar always has a few irons in the fire. Here's the status of the future of Dredd:

If anyone is still wondering, there's no update on a Dredd sequel, but I'm gonna make it happen at some point. It may not be live-action, but it's going to happen at some point. There will be more Judge Dredd at some point.

Castlevania 3 Nintendo Entertainment System screenshot.
Image via Konami

I was also a fan of his super-violent, animated web series, Judge Dredd: Superfiend, but while it seems like that project has come to a close, there's a bigger adventure in store:

I'm not going to continue with Judge Dredd: Superfiend. In fact, the guys I partnered with on Superfiend are going to release an 85-minute project this year based on a superhero that everyone on the planet knows. Rights-holders are going to be very pissed.

 

It's great. I love it. Sometimes you work with them officially, like Konami, you make Castlevania and it's the real thing. Then sometimes you just go off on your own and say, "You know what? Fuck it. We're just making our own thing. This is how I look at it: This genre stuff, it doesn't have to be schlock. There needs to be a point of view and a purpose to everything. These characters that are so ingrained in our culture, since we're so divided as a species now, the one unifying thing is, "Well, everyone knows Batman, so if you want to get a message across, use Batman to do it."

 

Now, you're not saying it's Batman, of course...

 

I'm not saying it's not Batman.

Keep an eye out for more from the always-controversial and unapologetically R-rated Shankar, as well as updates on the Castlevania series as we receive them!

castlevania-animated-series-netflix
Image via Konami