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The first season of the animated television series Castlevania premiered exclusively via Netflix's web streaming service on July 7, 2017. The season consists of 4 episodes. The season's plot follows Trevor Belmont as he and Sypha Belnades join Alucard to take down Dracula.

Main

 * Richard Armitage as Trevor Belmont, the last living member of the Belmont clan, an excommunicated family of monster hunters.
 * James Callis as Adrian "Alucard" Țepeș, the dhampir son of Dracula and Lisa Țepeș, who seeks to protect humanity from his father.
 * Graham McTavish as Vlad Dracula Țepeș, a vampire who swears vengeance on humanity for the murder of his wife Lisa, summoning an army of monsters to kill all the people of Wallachia.
 * Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha Belnades, a Speaker Magician and the Elder's granddaughter who wields powerful elemental magic.
 * Tony Amendola as The Elder, Sypha's grandfather and the leader of a group of Speakers aiding the people of Gresit whom Trevor befriends.
 * Matt Frewer as the Bishop, a psychotic clergyman who orders the burning of Lisa Țepeș for witchcraft, later being named the bishop of Gresit.
 * Emily Swallow as Lisa Țepeș, Dracula's beloved wife who is burned at the stake in Târgoviște after being falsely accused of witchcraft.

Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series' first season has an approval rating of 83% based on 29 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Castlevania offers spectacular visuals and a compelling adaptation in its all-too-short first season." Critics mostly agreed the season was a promising start, lamenting its brevity, but praising its visuals and story. Dracula being introduced as a sympathetic character was also received positively.

Jesse Schedeen of IGN rated the first season an 8.1/10, writing "Netflix's Castlevania series does justice to the source material, even if the first season is far too short." Schedeen added that "Castlevania immediately starts off on the right foot by focusing not on the Belmont family, but Dracula himself." Matt Geradi of The A.V. Club wrote "while the animation and writing in this first 'season' occasionally stumble along the way, the series' creators have gone above and beyond to wring a resonant story from a game that never really had or needed one."

Ben Gilbert of Business Insider highly praised the season, writing "Somehow, against all expectations and logic, the first Netflix original show derived from a video game is very, very good." Gilbert opined that the season included "sharp writing, beautiful art, and a thoughtful criticism of human existence," and added that "It's this level of sophistication — mixed with a healthy bit of necessary humor and gratuitous hyper-violence — that makes Castlevania such a success."

Writing for Screen Rant, Drew Atchinson opined that "probably the worst thing about season one of Castlevania was how short it was." Atchinson added that "the season came to an end on a high note" with its final episode, praising "Monument"'s final scene.

Ollie Barder, a Forbes contributor, wrote retrospectively of the season, stating that "the first season was only four episodes and was mostly a cautious aperitif, to see if an animated adaptation of Castlevania would stick." Barder added that "while there is a fair bit of gore and fighting in these first four episodes," the first season mainly functioned to lay a narrative foundation for the series. Also writing following the end of the series, Gamespot writer Justin Clark stated that "the first two seasons of the show are only [archetypal] in that they're exactly what you'd expect from Warren Ellis around the time they were originally written."