How Netflix’s Castlevania Season 4 Overcame Pandemic Work Issues

May 13, 2021

Castlevania Season 4 brings the story of Trevor Belmont to an end today as it is now streaming on Netflix. However, this season proved difficult to bring together due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ComingSoon was able to talk to the series’ executive producer and assistant director about how the pandemic forced production to change.

“Everything you could imagine that’s sort of expected [has happened],” assistant director Adam Deats told ComingSoon. “I think animation is great in that we don’t really have to necessarily be in a studio all together to do it, but a lot of the stuff that you’d expect with certain people in the pandemic hit, they wanted to move closer to home to be with their parents or somebody else, a loved one. We had staff members that were, had been in the pandemic entirely alone, and it’s really difficult to do. You can’t really talk to people very much, you can’t do anything but Zoom meetings. So it was really, really tough.”

Executive producer Kevin Kolde thanks the essential workers and the ability to work from home for an easier transition.

“Fortunately, with animation, so much of it is done on computers,” explained Kolde. “So the transition for everyone to work from home in that regard was not all that difficult. I think just dealing though with, with working from home brings its own unique challenges. If you have family or children or other things going on, you don’t necessarily have to deal with when you’re going to an office. Certainly, we were fortunate for the most part to be able to transition to working from home because a lot of people weren’t, [they were] essential workers on the front line. So, we’re appreciative to them.”

However, despite animation studios being able to work from home easier, that didn’t mean that it was without issues.

“So there was obviously a little bit of a move that happened initially when the pandemic first started,” said Deats. “There’s the obvious problems, the Zoom meetings, having lag issues, and all that stuff on an everyday basis. There’s also, honestly, there have been mental health problems. I’ve had some difficulties myself from I think the pressure of the pandemic during a lot of it. So I think that it’s all things that are expected. It did cause issues. We did manage to get through it though.”

Castlevania Season 4 is out now on Netflix.