REVIEW: ‘Castlevania: Nocturne’ Season 2 Is Perfect Storytelling

Castlevania Nocturne Season 2 is finally here. Where Castlevania was a story about broken adults reforging bonds that had been severed and healing from an increasingly evil world, Castlevania: Nocturne is a coming-of-age story. Where Trevor Belmont was a man nearly devoid of hope, Richter (Edward Bluemel) is a young man holding onto the small piece of the belief that he can do something bigger and is meant to do something more than just live. 

In Castlevania: Nocturne, Season 2, this becomes even more apparent. Richter is coming to terms with his place in the Belmont legacy, Annette (Thuso Mbedu) is taking the next step in her ancestral power, and Maria Renard (Pixie Davies) is working through feeling grief and anger so deeply for the first time.

Animated by Powerhouse Animation, from showrunners Kevin Kolde & Clive Bradley, with Sam & Adam Deats serving as directors and Bradley, Testament, Temi Oh, and Zodwa Nyoni writing for the series. Picking up at the last moments of the stunning first season, Tera (Nastassja Kinski) has been turned into a vampire, Alucard (James Callis) has killed Drolta Tzuentes (Elarica Johnson), Erzsebeth Bathory (Franka Potente) has won, the Abbot’s (this series’ forgemaster played by Richard Dormer) monks have been killed, Mizrak (Aaron Neil) is saved by Olrox (Zahn McClarnon) only to be revolted by him, and Annette and Trevor have been defeated despite throwing everything they have at Erzsebeth.

Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 rebuilds our protagonists and the ensemble cast as much as it continues their story. This season’s story pulls our characters from the rubble and stands them up again with new confidence, new powers, and new mentorship from Alucard and Juste Belmont (Iain Glen). All the while, Tera watches from afar and attempts to retain whatever shred of a soul is left in her new vampire body.

With Erzsebeth nearly complete with her transformation into Sekhmet, the Egyptian god of War, she stands powerful above her dead army—but still strong regardless. But even in her win, there is grief. She cries over Drolta, yearns to see her returned to life, and then forces Abbot to use his magic to save her.

Castlevania Nocturne Season 2 expands on its characters for the better while Erzsebet’s shadow looms over everything. 

It should be said that this review contains light spoilers for the second season of Castlevania: Nocturne. Bookmark it and come back if you want to go in as a clean slate. Castlevania Nocturne Season 2 is a big season because of its characters and their relationships. Still, it’s also grand because of how it adds to the foundational lore of its universe, which takes the most significant step away from its Konami-published roots. As Edouard (Sydney James Harcourt) has shown, nightcreatures aren’t soulless. They feel, they remember, and they sing. For Erzsebeth, this is all she needs to put Drolta through the process, bringing her love back to life and more powerful than before.

As the Vampire Messiah rebuilds her army with a newly empowered Drolta in tow and a duplicitous Olrox at their side, Alucard has to lead Richter and Annette through Paris, chasing the one thing that may be able to stop Erzsebeth’s transformation. But for Maria, her world was her mother, and without Tera, she was lost.

Angrily pushing Richter towards Paris, Maria is left in the guard of Juste and Mizrak, who have joined our vampire hunting crew. As for Richter and Annette? Well, under Alucard’s guidance, they’re forced to stare down parts of themselves they didn’t expect, growing closer in the process until the time comes to take on Erzsebeth again.

Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2, for all of its violence and spectacle, is, at its core, an intimate story about growing into who you are meant to be, even if it’s different than where you saw yourself. The main cast of the sequel to the Netflix Animated series is young, which is essential to understanding their place in the crumbling world they find themselves tasked with saving. It also turns Alucard into a different person than we’ve seen before.

Alucard is different than when we last saw him; he is wise and caring in equal measure.

Alucard is a mentor, an uncle, and a family member connected to every Belmont. He is equally annoyed and dedicated to Richter as he was to Trevor. Wiser and less focused on immediate combat than in the original Castlevania series, he wears his age in his actions, his appearance visually softer in aesthetic and kinder in action. His kindness and wisdom don’t do away with any of his snark, but they add a lens through which to view the series.

As Maria contemplates the idea of killing her father in revenge for her mother’s death and transformation, she asks Alucard about his father. You know, the father of all vampires that he managed to kill. She asks if he is evil, and Alucard responds with a simple “Perhaps not.” It’s a moment that highlights how much Alucard has changed in the hundreds of years since we last saw him. Now, he sees his father through the lens of love and, more specifically, the love he felt for Alucard’s mother. The reason he’s here.

He tells Maria, “Love is a fragile, capricious thing in this cold, fleeting world. But if anything can redeem anyone, then yes. Love.” The tenderness delivered in this line is a perfect balance to the grit and grotesque moments we are about to see in the series’ violence. Even when the dark fantasy series descends into trauma, it doesn’t lose love. Love in all its forms runs like an undercurrent through every decision our characters make, for better and worse.

Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 devotes time to expanding on each of its ensemble characters without missing a beat. Writing this review, it’s astonishing how many characters the single season can build on and explore with so few episodes. It’s a feat rarely accomplished now that the average season of a prestige television series is 6 to 8 episodes. This doesn’t mean that every character receives entire episodes devoted to them, like Annette and Drolta.

When we look at Maria, her exchanges with Alucard, Mizrak, and later Juste all paint a descent and reckoning with harrowing grief, to say the least. The youngest among the ensemble cast, Maria is forced to grow up quickly. But what do you expect when you see your mother taken before your eyes? While Richter and his mother die and resolve to impact the world positively and, of course, kill Olrox, Maria’s rage pushes in a direction only focused on vengeance.

Maria’s journey in Castlevania Nocturne Season 2 is deep, dark, and powerful.

This season, Maria’s journey is dedicated to staring into the abyss, having it look back, and ultimately choosing to embrace the monster within it, maintain a sense of self that values life, or succumb to death. Tera may be a vampire now, but she is still around and incapable of removing herself from her daughter’s life.

Seeing her mother as someone different, someone angry and resentful, changes Maria. Her despair morphs her powers from rings of light summoning animals familiar to this world to rings of spiraling darkness pulling monsters from another realm entirely. Beasts, dragons, and their terrifying ilk are in Maria’s hands, and all Juste can tell her is to stop.

When Juste reaches out to Maria, he says that her despair will rot her from the inside out if she allows it to drive her actions and magic. Her darkness is all-consuming, and Tera is fanning the flames of revenge. Maria is at odds with herself this season, and instead of making it an easy road, it’s winding and unsettling but too recognizable for those who have lost the ones they love.

Castlevania Nocturne Season 2 is a brilliant tapestry of accepting your pain, embracing those you love, and attempting to survive if only to protect what’s more important to you, even if sometimes that means letting them go. But in that focal point, the series also casts a wide net over the idea of heroism: some things are worth dying for, and others are not. Understanding the difference allows you to see what matters in life and embrace the path that needs you the most.

Annette and Drolta’s past makes for dynamic storytelling in the present.

Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 is filled with character moments, and every single time the series dedicates time to exploring a background or emotion, it pays off narratively. We learn more about the Orishas, Ogun, and Annette’s ancestral magic because it directly impacts where the story moves next. Drolta receives character development by way of flashbacks to her time as a priestess of Sekhmet, and it informs the audience about how she has come to view suffering.

For Drolta, every suffering is a fleeting moment, leaving wisdom learned behind. She has been wounded and killed and seen her god ripped from her temple. In Erzsebeth, she sees Sekhmet’s renewal and the completion of her life’s goal. She is Erzsebeth’s disciple, but more importantly, the devotion and love she directs toward the Vampire Messiah are rooted in something much more ancient than a simple romance.

Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 recontextualized who Erzsebeth is for its eight episodes. We see her love, grieve, murder, and beg for worship. She is a big bad with the power to wipe out the sun, and yet, she is also beholden to the power of Sekhmet that she attempts to find and wield. As with the original series, villainy in Castlevania remains complicated in the best possible ways.

There is weight every time we cut away from the past or learn more about present conflicts. It’s easy for the series to show lip service toward representing different parts of the world and the depth of trauma and emotions around them. It’s even easier to check a box off. But Nocturne doesn’t do that. Instead, it grounds itself in its people as much as its setting or action spectacle. It’s beautiful, allowing every character to become complex and layered.

Love is central to understanding Nocturne, even in the violence.

This is even extended to Mizrak and Olrox. While the two characters have not received the most focus this or last season, their relationship with each other has created a sense of who they are by how they relate to love. For Mizrak, he’s ashamed that he’s in love, that he betrayed his vow of chastity, but more importantly, that he can’t stop longing for the beautiful demon in front of him. For Olrox, his deep love for Mizrak and continued devotion to saving him when he could easily be selfish and leave him to die is a testament to how he views those close to him.

Olrox hunted down and killed Richter’s mother because she killed his lover. We can see that forming here when he is willing to fight Old Man Wold (Metistophiles by another name) from taking Mizrak when he’s wounded. We can also see what he is willing to do to keep Erzsebeth in his sight.

In Castlevania: Nocturne Season 1, Olrox bowed to Erzsebeth with his eyes held high. A sign of disrespect, he made the active choice to play along but not give her a part himself that survived Spanish colonizers and will not be trampled by others, his pride. However, in Season 2, Olrox allows himself to be branded. Sure, it will fade, given his age and power, but the act makes him a subject, and he accepts it, all for Mizrak.

Olrox is villainous, cold, and Machiavellian, but his past also shapes him. He is who he is because of what he survived, as the rest of his people were murdered or enslaved. Olrox is a mighty deity that his people thought the Spanish God could kill, and with that comes confidence and power. Instead of wielding it for himself, we see him only wielding it to protect the man he loves.

Even old man Belmont, Juste, gets development this season. He finds his power similarly to Richter and uses his past pain to try his best to take care of Maria. For Juste, he vows to take care of her and see her as family, even if they aren’t connected by blood. Juste’s suffering was a lesson and one he plans to ensure that Maria saves herself from.

Netflix’s Castlevania series keeps getting better with every season.

If you step back from the story and look at the series’ action, you’ll also find some of the very best on television. With Richter in command of his Speaker power, the ones passed down in the Belmont family from Sypha, his fight style is much more adlib. The way he uses his body, ice, and fire as extensions of himself is beautiful. It’s kinetic, highlights his prowess as a fighter, and enshrines the animation as some of the best. And every single one of the characters gets the same treatment with louder action sequences, more significant battles, and a penultimate episode that delivers in spades.

This season can be summed up in one word: love. It features mighty terrors, violence, stark and vibrant action, and all of it comes back to love in one way or another. It’s pure, and it grows, or it twists and festers. But regardless, it moves each of the characters to act.

Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 pulls off what few shows (animated or live-action) can do with its ending. It closes up the existing characters, packing them each into a signature happy ending that feels cathartic given what they’ve endured. It closes the door on one story, and if it ends here, it will do so, being one of the pinnacles of Netflix animation with both storytelling depth and beauty. Still, Powerhouse opens a window and leaves enough on the table for viewers to latch onto, chase, and hope for more.

An astonishing feat, every subsequent season since 2017, the Castlevania property has deepened and become even more beautiful. The animation is breathtaking, the fantasy is more significant, and the lore has developed to the point that it exists separately but is enhanced by the original Konami video game series. Castlevania: Nocturne Season 3 hasn’t been announced yet, but whether it’s a new season, side stories, or anything else, I want to stay with these characters. To sum it up, Castlevania Nocturne Season 2 is utterly perfect storytelling.

Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 is streaming now exclusively on Netflix.

Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 Review

Spoilers Start around the 15-minute mark** Synopsis: Now joined by the legendary Alucard, Richter Belmont and his band of vampire hunters are in a desperate race against time. Erzsebet Báthory, the Vampire Messiah, who already seems invincible, seeks the full power of the goddess Sekhmet so she can plunge the world into endless darkness and terror.