‘Castlevania: Nocturne’ Director Samuel Deats Disavows Netflix Marketing’s Insulting Of Richter Belmont: “It Was Disrespectful To The Story, Characters, Fans, And To Us As Creators”
Despite the fact that the series itself treats the source material with an arguably worse level of care, director Samuel Deats has decried Netflix’s recent attempt to market Castlevania: Nocturne by publicly insulting its lead protagonist, fan-favorite vampire slayer Richter Belmont.
The insult in question, as made by the series’ official Twitter account on September 30th, was itself inspired by a series of events which begin in Nocturne‘s fourth episode, ‘Horrors of the Earth’.
Therein, during Ricther, Maria, and Annette’s mission to rescue the latter’s capture companion, Edouard, the group find themselves in a surprise confrontation with the vampire Olrox – otherwise known as the beast that ended the life of Richter’s mother.
Unprepared to so suddenly find himself face-to-face with his mother’s killer, Richter soon experiences a bout of PTSD, the pain of which causes him to turn tail and abandon the mission.
As he does, annoyed with his sudden exit, Annette accuses the traumatized Belmont of being nothing more than a run-of-the-mill coward.
Later on, in Nocturne‘s sixth episode ‘Guilty Men to Be Judged’, Annette vents her frustrations over this event to the spirit of her mentor, Cecile.
Still annoyed with Ricther’s quick exit, Annette at one point laments how “The Belmont Boy turned out to be useless as f–k.”
“He literally ran away,” she then proclaims. “Ran. Away”
For some reason believing this moment to be a ‘selling point’ for Nocturne despite the fact that its source material Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is specifcally a Richter-centric adventure, the official Netflix Castlevania account shared Annette’s dismissal of the hot-headed hero and added, “No matter the timeline, the Belmonts stay getting humbled by their magic companions.”
Unsurprisingly, this tweet did not go over well with the series’ fans – especially those whose introduction to the series came in the form of Konami’s original games – many of whom proceeded to push back against Netflix’s insult.
“This Belmont slander is getting ridiculous,” @DarianBelmont declared. “In what timeline or universe are the Belmonts being ‘humbled’ by their companions outside of this adaptation? I don’t know why these writers hate the Belmonts so much, but it’s getting really old.”
“Need I remind you that Simon Belmont single-handedly killed Dracula TWICE?,” recalled @BaronVonCrispy. “And the second time, he was practically on his death bed trying to kill Dracula.”
“These shows are written by no one except charlatans and wretches, envious of the devotion the games have garnered,” they added.
“Y’all had one of the best things with Castlevania and you blew it,” noted @Chilango83. “This is why people loved the strikes, you literally suck at your jobs and deserve to lose.”
Eventually, Netflix’s post was brought to the personal attention of Deats himself, courtesy of a fan who tagged the director’s Twitter account.
“What a strange take,” @InnerDemonsGR noted. “I always thought the Belmont Family were heroes of legend, flawed at times yes…but heroes nonetheless.”
“Should viewers be hating Richter right now because I haven’t gotten to this episode yet,” he then asked Deats directly.
In turn, the director responded, “We don’t run this account and I do not endorse this post.”
Following his discovery of this post, Deats returned to Twitter the next day to express frustration at how, in his eyes, Netflix’s marketing represented the Castlevania spin-off’s identity.
“Man,” said the director. “Not to vague tweet but I work too damn much to have to add ‘keep an eye on marketing so they don’t misrepresent our show’ to my grossly oversized to-do list.”
Sometime after this tweet, in an act later revealed to be the result of Deats’ own protestations, Netflix would take down their insulting Castlevania marketing attempt.
“I asked them to take that post down cuz, for one, while I’d like to believe it was unintentional, it came across to us as baiting rage-engagement,” Deats explained on October 2nd. “That goes fundamentally against everything we believe. And second, it was disrespectful to the story, characters, fans, and to us as creators.”
“Richter’s story arc is about his trauma, grief, the burden of his legacy, and *fear of living up to it*–but coming out the other side for the people he loves and becoming the the hero we know him to be,” he continued.
“”His grief over his mother’s death hits right at home with me, as someone who spent the better part of a decade bottling up and struggling to process the death of my father, the guilt I’ve felt as if there were something I could’ve done differently,” the director further detailed, before asking, “Why in the world would I want to make a mockery of that?”
“The burden of carrying a legacy hits right at home too as we try to carry the weight of the Castlevania legacy,” Deats then emphasized. “It’s HEAVY. We work long hours, full of anxiety, trying to do our best to live up to it. There are pieces of us in his story, it’s not something we take lightly.”
Bringing his thoughts to a close, Deats concluded, “Anyways, these are some things I just needed to get off my chest. There’s probably gonna be a few people annoyed with me that I said it, but I felt like it needed to be said–wish me luck.”
All eight episodes of Castlevania: Nocturne are currently available for streaming on Netflix.
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