In an age where almost anything adapted from a videogame has been cancelled, forgotten, poorly received or trapped in limbo, Netflix’s Castlevania series has been notably bucking a lot of trends, with many citing it as the best TV show based on a videogame ever made. With its second season recently released, continuing its success, and a third season already being worked on, fans would no doubt love to see their other favourite franchises get a similar treatment. And that just might be happening with Nintendo’s own fantasy franchise - The Legend of Zelda.
While technically not an official announcement, Adi Shankar, executive producer for the Castlevania series - which adapted the prequel game Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse - posted on Instagram that he was “working with an iconic Japanese gaming company to adapt one of their iconic video game series into a series.” Even though he doesn’t directly refer to the Zelda series itself, it seems like the most obvious pick given his use of the word “iconic” and that both Castlevania and Zelda share some similarities due to their fantasy-like settings, though it’s unlikely that the Zelda series would be as graphic and violent.
Aside from Castlevania, Shankar has worked as a producer on several other projects, including big-budget movies like Dredd and The Grey. His work on the latter made him the youngest producer to have a number one film at the North American box office. He also seems to be a big gaming fan himself, as he’s working on an Assassin’s Creed series for Netflix and has even cited the Final Fantasy VII villain Sephiroth as one of his artistic influences.
However, when approached about this potential TV show, a spokeperson for Nintendo said “We have nothing to announce on this topic.” It’s entirely possible that Shankar wasn’t referring to the Zelda series in his post, but the fact that Nintendo haven’t immediately dismissed the concept only further suggests that it is the case. It wouldn’t even be all that surprising considering Nintendo seems to be trying to embrace other forms of media as of late. Only a couple of years ago, they confirmed that they would be attempting to adapt their franchises into movies again, with a Mario movie already in the works at Illumination.
If this is all true, it would be pretty hilarious since a very similar rumour cropped up several years ago. It was falsely reported that Netflix would be making their own Zelda series and Nintendo’s CEO at the time, Satoru Iwata, had to officially clarify that it wasn’t happening.
A Zelda TV show would certainly whet the appetites of those still waiting for the next main game, which is probably still a very long way away if rumors about the next game being a remake/re-release are to be believed. At this point, however, we can only wait until Shankar makes his official announcement on November 16th as he promised.
For those who have yet to check it out, the Castlevania series is available to watch right now on Netflix. The latest Legend of Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, is available to play on Nintendo Switch.
