Castlevania, known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula, is a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise about Dracula, created and developed by Konami. It has been released on various platforms, from early systems to modern consoles, as well as handheld devices such as mobile phones. The franchise has expanded into several spin-off video games and other media, including comic books and an animated television series.
Michael Dorn is an American actor best known for his role as the Klingon character Worf in the Star Trek franchise, appearing in all seven seasons of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), and later reprising the role in Seasons 4 through 7 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995–1999) and season three of Star Trek: Picard (2023). Dorn has appeared more times as a regular cast member than any other Star Trek actor in the franchise's history, spanning five films and 284 television episodes.
Adrian Fahrenheit Țepeș, better known as Alucard, is a character in Konami's Castlevania series of video games. His first appearance in the series was in the 1989 game Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, but he is best known for his role in the critically acclaimed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, released in 1997. His design in Symphony of the Night was created by Ayami Kojima, marking her first contribution to the Castlevania franchise.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a 1997 action role-playing game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. It was directed and produced by Toru Hagihara, with Koji Igarashi acting as assistant director. It is a direct sequel to Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, taking place four years later. It features Dracula's dhampir son Alucard as the protagonist, rising from his slumber to explore Dracula's castle which resurfaced after Richter Belmont vanished. Its design marks a break from previous entries in the series, re-introducing the exploration, nonlinear level design, and role-playing elements first experimented with in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.
Dracula Vlad Țepeș or simply known as Dracula, real name Mathias Cronqvist, is a fictional character from the Castlevania video game series created by Konami. A vampire and a sorcerer, he is the main antagonist of the series, the archenemy of the Belmont clan, and the final boss of almost every installment. In the series reboot Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Dracula is reimagined as an 11th-century holy knight named Gabriel Belmont and serves as the central character of the game and its two sequels. The Lords of Shadow series tells the story of Gabriel's quest to save the world, vampirism and redemption.
Jouji Nakata, sometimes anglicized to George Nakata, is a Japanese actor, voice actor, and narrator who is affiliated with the Office Osawa agency. His major voice roles include Alucard in Hellsing, Hijikata Toshizo in Golden Kamuy, Roy Revant in Solty Rei, Giroro in Sgt. Frog, Kirei Kotomine in Fate/stay night, and the title character in Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. In video game franchises, he voices Ieyasu Tokugawa and Kenshin Uesugi in Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series, Albert Wesker in the Resident Evil franchise, Sol Badguy in the Guilty Gear series since Guilty Gear 2: Overture, Naobito Zen'in in Jujutsu Kaisen and Kazuya Mishima in the first, second and first Tag installments of the Tekken series.
James Nicholas Callis is an English actor. He is known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones's best friend Tom in Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and Bridget Jones's Baby. He joined the cast of the TV series Eureka, on Syfy, in 2010, and since 2017, he has voiced the character Alucard in the Netflix series Castlevania and Castlevania: Nocturne, based on the video game series of the same name. In 2022, he appeared in Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard as Jean-Luc's father in childhood flashbacks.
Tom Kane is a retired American voice actor. He is best known for his work in animation and video games, most notably the Star Wars franchise.
Paul Mercier is an American actor and voice actor. He is best known for voicing Leon S. Kennedy in Resident Evil 4 and Specter in the SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs video game series.
Koji Igarashi is a Japanese video game producer, programmer, writer, and creative director. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.
Douglas Rye is an American voice actor who has done Narration for such notable companies as Bank of America, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, NBC, The Playboy Channel, Qwest, Carl's Jr. and DaimlerChrysler. Rye has been acting since he was a child, he beat out Christopher Reeve for a role in a summer production at The Lawrenceville School, during his four years there. He studied at New York University with the likes of Olympia Dukakis and Lloyd Richards, and during his time there worked alongside Jason Robards III, Melissa Manchester, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest.
David Vincent is an American voice actor and voice director who provides voices for animation, anime and video games. Some roles include Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez in Bleach, Senketsu in Kill la Kill, Gilgamesh in Fate/Zero & Fate/stay night, Male Robin in Fire Emblem Awakening, the Super Smash Bros. series and Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., Marshall Law in the Tekken series, T. Hawk in Super Street Fighter IV, Richter Belmont in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, the narrator of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Jin Kisaragi and Hakumen in the BlazBlue series. He also had a guest role in Ghost in the Shell.
Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night is a 2010 Castlevania puzzle game featuring Alucard and other Castlevania: Symphony of the Night characters for iOS and Windows Phone. It retells the story of Symphony of the Night. It features a role-playing game system and touched up sprites. The game was released on iOS on July 21, 2010, and for Windows Phone on January 18, 2011.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by MercurySteam for the Nintendo 3DS. It is a direct sequel to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which served as a reboot of the Castlevania franchise. Players control multiple characters as they explore a labyrinthine castle and piece together the mystery of Dracula's return.
Bianca Allen is an American voice actress who primarily does narration voice-over work as well as characters in numerous video games. She is mostly known for her roles as Carrie Fernandez from Castlevania 64, Alicia S. Tiller and Misato Hayakawa from Countdown Vampires, and Reiko Hinomoto and Rowdy Reiko from Rumble Roses. Recently she has provided narration and subway platform announcements in Japanese.
Eric Kelso is an American voice actor, director, presenter and producer currently based in Tokyo, Japan.
Castlevania is an American adult animated dark fantasy action television series created and written by Warren Ellis for Netflix, and is produced by Frederator Studios's Kevin Kolde and Fred Seibert and Shankar Animation's Adi Shankar. Based on the Japanese video game series of the same name by Konami, the first two seasons adapt the 1989 entry Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse and follow Trevor Belmont, Alucard and Sypha Belnades as they defend the nation of Wallachia from Dracula and his minions. Additionally, characters and elements from the 2005 entry Castlevania: Curse of Darkness are featured beginning in the second season, and Alucard's backstory is drawn from the 1997 entry Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The art style is heavily influenced by Japanese animation and Ayami Kojima's artwork.
Dracula's Castle is the main setting of the video game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997), which was designed by Koji Igarashi. Players control the protagonist Alucard as they explore the castle, which was based on the traditional depiction of Castle Dracula from the horror novel by Bram Stoker and related media, and is one of numerous incarnations in the Castlevania series. Upon defeating Shaft, a minion of Dracula, players are able to enter the Inverted Castle, an upside down version of the original castle that was included because the designers wanted to add more content without having to create new assets. The Inverted Castle served as inspiration for multiple games, such as 2014's Strider and Igarashi's Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Tekken: Bloodline is an action fantasy anime television miniseries based on the video game series Tekken by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The series loosely adapts the events of the 1997 video game Tekken 3 and follows the young fighter Jin Kazama in his quest to defeat Ogre, the creature that killed his mother Jun. Jin's quest leads to him being trained to track Ogre by his violent grandfather Heihachi Mishima, who is hosting a fighting tournament called the King of Iron Fist. The show premiered on Netflix on August 18, 2022, for a total of six episodes.
