Given the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and every studio’s desire to launch a similarly connected universe, Universal moved forward with a new Dracula adaptation that could feasibly set up the premise for a recurring series. To its credit, the debut director Gary Shore and screenwriters Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless actually had a pretty interesting concept on their hands with Dracula Untold; rather than tell the same “haunted mansion” story that previous iterations had utilized, Dracula Untold examined the mythology of the characters and tried to treat the material as a tragic historical epic in the style of a Ridley Scott film. The film begins as a traditional historical epic before slowly introducing the supernatural element of the Master Vampire (Charles Dance), who is forced to reside in a secretive, bone-encrusted cave in the enigmatic Broken Tooth Mountain.

Set in the 15th century, Dracula Untold introduces Evans as Vlad Drăculea, the Prince of Wallachia and Transylvania, and former ward of the Sultan and soldier in the Ottoman Empire. Vlad is capable of monstrous things during wartime, but he’s frightened by his own abilities and fears what unleashing his true rage would look like. He wants to support his kingdom, his wife Mirena (Sarah Gadon), his children, and the future of Europe, but learns that an Ottoman battalion intends to attack their kingdom. Their civilization would be on the peak of destruction, and Vlad has no other choice but to ask the Master Vampire (revealed to be an ancient Roman soldier named Caligula that sought the dark powers out of greed) to curse him with the powers of a vampire; he uses his immortality and ability to transform into a cloud of bats to defend his kingdom. While Vlad’s transition into being a full-blooded vampire isn’t complete, he goes all the way down the dark path when a dying Miriena begs him to suck her blood.