Warning: SPOILERS for Castlevania: Nocturne season 2Castlevania: Nocturneseason 2 raised the stakes and tied the show even closer to itsCastlevaniaorigins, and co-composers Trey Toy and Trevor Morris were key to ensuring things felt bigger and better than ever. The second series of the hit Netflix anime show dove into Egyptian mythology as mysterious forces aimed to revive the god Sekhmet. Meanwhile, the revolutionary-turned-Night Creature Edouard led an uprising of his own to protect the rights of others like himself.
Castlevania: Nocturneseason 2 also featured the return ofCastlevania’s Alucard, albeit a more world-weary version of the character. With a season 2 larger in scope than the first, Toy and Morris found ways to push the envelope of the sonic palette they had already created forCastlevania: Nocturne. This involved iterating on the process they had established for the first season and including larger ensembles and new instruments.
ScreenRantinterviewedCastlevania: Nocturneseason 2 co-composer Trey Toy about his work on the latest season. Toy discussed the evolution of the musical approach to the series, what it meant for bigCastlevaniacharacters to return in full force, and the show’s inclusion of opera songs in its story. Toy also reflected on the future of the show and weighed in on whetherCastlevania: Nocturneseason 3 should coverSymphony of the Night.
Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 Moved Beyond The “Intentional Restraint” Of Season 1
Trey Toy & Trevor Morris Knew They Were Building Up To This
Castlevania: Nocturneseason 2 has been praised by many viewers as an improvement over the already well-regarded first season. For Toy, it was a chance to push the show’s music even farther.“When I saw the second season, it felt like an escalation to me too,”the composer said. Although the actual process of creating the show’s music didn’t change too much,“the first season, there was a bit of almost intentional restraint on our part … we definitely let a little bit in the tank in the first season knowing that the second season would have this escalation.”
Alucard & Tera Presented New Musical Opportunities
Even Returning Characters Required A New Approach
One of the biggest reveals going intoCastlevania: Nocturneseason 2 was that Alucard fromCastlevaniawould return.“I was super excited when I saw it was going to happen,”Toy shared. And even though Toy worked on the originalCastlevaniashow, he didn’t want to lean too hard into the character’s established music:“Going into Nocturne, we wanted to highlight that as much as this is the same character and the same person that we came to know in the original series,”but,“we wanted his music to reflect the centuries that had passed between then and now.”
“In the original series, his theme was more electronic … the idea was to express this angst and this anger that he had at the world [and] at his father.”ButCastlevania: Nocturne’s Alucard has changed:“He’s come to know friendship. He’s come to know love. He’s leaned into his role as this heroic figure, but he’s also a bit world-weary. He spends centuries watching members of the Belmont family grow up, live, [and] die … we wanted to reflect the duality of this heroic figure who we know and love, but who’s grown weary over the centuries.”
When asked about his favorite new theme for the season, Toy answered quickly:“Tera, who is Maria Renard’s mother.”At the end of the first season, Tera is turned into a vampire, which raised questions of what she would be like upon her return to the show.“when season two starts, we come to know that, fortunately, she hasn’t fully become this evil bloodthirsty being. She is now a vampire, but at the same time, she still feels this connection to her daughter, and she feels this love. So we had to balance those two aspects of her character.”
The composers did that in an interesting way:“we used woodwind multiphonics. We used strange synth resonances that we made with the modular synth. I played this Viking instrument called tagelharpa and I put it through all of this weird processing, and the result is not as awful as it sounds. It’s this strange texture with elements that are bubbling beneath the surface. It’s supernatural, but it’s human at the same time.”The composer continued,“in the original season, her melody was essentially the same as Maria’s … they’ve now started to grow apart, and her melody shares [fewer] notes.”
Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 Brings In Opera & Revolutionary Songs
Some of the most memorable moments ofCastlevania: Nocturneseason 2 up the intensity by including songs. These include “The Cold Song” from Henry Purcell’sKing Arthurin episode 4 and “Vedró Con Mio Diletto” in the finale. When asked about their inclusion, Toy said the following:“I really credit the screenwriters and the showrunners. The way they use those operatic pieces, they’re so delicately interwoven into the story … honestly, there’s only so much credit that I can take.”But to elevate Edouard actor Sydney James Harcourt’s performance,“we came up with the arrangement and programmed the orchestral instruments.”
The composers did more, however, to build the showstopping moment at the beginning of episode 7 in which Edouard sings “Grenadye Alaso”:“It’s a Haitian revolutionary song,”Toy said,“we got to really explore Edouard’s roots. We worked with a musician named Dr. Jean Montes. He arranged the tune and helped us with the performance and the arrangement and ensuring that the performance was culturally authentic.”
“We worked with a lot of great soloists on that,”Toy continued,“James Newberry played both European and Haitian percussion to give us the sense that we’re in Paris and marching these revolutionary truths, but at the same time we’re being brought back to Edouard’s Haitian roots.”The composers doubled down in enlisting conch shell player Don Chilton:“People might know him from Annette’s theme. The context for that is that the shell was actually one of the symbols of the Haitian Revolution. We wanted Annette’s music and Edouard’s revolutionary song to have musical roots in the Haitian Revolution.”
But Licensing Issues Have Held Up The Process
Image via Netflix
“The Castlevania fanbase is one of, if not the most musically astute that I’ve ever been a part of,”Toy said at one point during the interview. That same fanbase has asked Toy numerous times when and if this season’s music will be released.“I can make no promises, but we’re working on it,”said the composer,“There are a lot of hurdles to soundtracks. There are a lot of issues with rights and licensing, especially because we’re dealing with an IP that has an owner. It’s not always easy to get the music out, but we’re working hard.”
Toy Weighs In On A Potential Castlevania: Nocturne Season 3
He Believes Season 2 Put The Show’s Characters In Uncharted Territory
“This was very much a two-season arc that concluded at the end of season 2,”Toy said when asked about the potential of aCastlevania: Nocturneseason 3. He continued:“It does make me happy that if we are not fortunate enough to get a third season, it is great that season 2 does feel like a conclusion. There is something satisfying in that.”To be clear, the composer does want the show to return:“I really am hoping, because I think there’s more story to tell.”
As for what the story would be, Toy responded to speculation that this would be the perfect time to adapt the hit gameCastlevania: Symphony of the Night: “I love the idea of doing a true-to-life adaptation of Symphony of the Night. At the same time it’s hard because, at the end of the second season, our characters have now dispersed.”
Toy elaborated:“We have Richter and Annette sailing across the ocean. We have Maria and Alucard staying in France. I think where the story is leading feels like novel territory. So, if we do end up adapting one of the games in a more true-to-life sense, I hope that we can also follow our characters where they are at the end of season 2. There’s something really exciting about following Richter out of Europe, which is the typical Castlevania setting.”
In true composer fashion, Toy ended on a humble disclaimer:“But that’s just me. I just write the music. These are decisions that are above my pay grade.”
Castlevania: Nocturne
Cast
Set in 1792 during the French Revolution, Castlevania: Nocturne focuses on Annette, a powerful sorceress who travels to find a descendant of a vampire-hunting family named Richter Belmont. At the same time, a counter-revolutionary aristocracy joins forces with Vampire Messiah. The series continues centuries after the events of the first Castlevania series, with Richter following in his ancestor’s footsteps to slay the hordes of the night.
