When the Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe was first announced a million years ago in the summer of 2014, there was some ambiguity about whether Gary Shore’s soon-to-be-released Dracula Untold would be considered canon. Next year’s The Mummy was the official kick-off of the franchise, but creative heads Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan said that they would “reevaluate projects which have preexisting attachments, and bring it under one cohesive strategy.” That’s a sort of fancy way of saying, “We’re going to wait and see if we want Luke Evans’ undead stench stinking up our shared universe.”
As it turns out, they do not. During a press event for the unveiling of the first Mummy trailer—yes, that’s a thing that happens now—Kurtzman, the long awaited reboot’s director, confirmed that Dracula Untold could continue being untold for all he cares, because it doesn’t have anything to do with his monsters. When asked if the critically panned 2014 origin story was connected to his shiny new tentpole film, he responded with a definitive “No,” according to Screen Rant.
We already know that Abraham Van Helsing (or some post-apocalyptic reinterpretation of him) is going to factor into UMCU as a major protagonist, so it would seem a bit weird if his most famous adversary sat this one out entirely. This means that Kurtzman and Morgan are likely thinking of new ways to incorporate the Transylvanian count into their overarching story. Which would be nice, because Bram Stoker’s creation really doesn’t get enough screen time.