It looks like the Ramayana is getting the Castlevania treatment. Deadline has reported that Castlevania creator Warren Ellis, executive producers Adi Shankar and Kevin Kolde, and Powerhouse Animation are teaming up once more to make another animated series for Netflix. Called Heaven’s Forest, it takes characters and stories from the Ramayana and transposes them to an “Indo-futuristic world.”
In case you haven’t read it, the Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic by the poet Valmiki that follows Rama, a prince and the seventh incarnation/avatar of the god Vishnu. His many adventures include getting betrayed by his stepmother, going into a 14-year-exile in the forests of India as a result of said betrayal, and having to rescue his wife from a demon who kidnapped her.
Heaven’s Forest isn’t the first sci-fi take on the Ramayana. There’s also Virgin Comics’ Ramayan 3392 A.D., which moves the characters to a far-future, post-apocalyptic setting in which the last stronghold of humanity has to battle a continent of demons. Created by Deepak Chopra and Shekhar Kapur, it’s written by Shamik Dasgupta and illustrated by Abhishek Singh.
There’s no word yet on Heaven’s Forest’s expected release date, voice cast, or plot. In the meantime, you can read the Ramayana in a number of different translations, editions, and modern prose retellings.
