While we don’t know when, sometime in the future, you’ll be able to see a new adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight with a Netflix subscription. In early 2024, Lionsgate announced they were making an animated series based on the vampire phenomenon, and months later, it was shared that it would be a Netflix project. If you were hoping to hear the original voices behind the movies, it sounds like that’s off the table per recent comments from the cast.
Peter Facinelli (Carlisle), Ashley Greene (Alice), Kellan Lutz (Emmett) and Jackson Rathbone (Jasper) of the original Twilight cast reunited with fans at Motor City Comic Con in Michigan last week. During a panel discussion hosted by ScreenRant, they revealed they tried and failed to get involved in the series, which is an adaptation specifically of Midnight Sun. As Rathbone revealed:
We were like, ‘Hey, it would be kind of cool, we're still pretty fresh out of it. It's not that far. Our voices haven't changed that much. Let's go ahead and let them know, as a group, collectively, we'd love to come back and do it the right way.’ No one asked for a lot of money, trust me. [Laughs] We're always coming back because we love y'all, man, we wanted to do it for the fans. We love our characters. And they very nicely said, ‘No.’ We couldn't even get an audition for it, which is funny.
What? If you’re a Twilight fan, you know that Midnight Sun is the original Twilight story, but from the perspective of Edward Cullen instead of Bella Swan. With that in mind, it features his vampire clan a lot more than the original story, and could have been a great opportunity for these supporting actors to get more time to tell their iconic characters’ stories.
During the panel, Rathbone shared that he and his co-stars actually learned about the existence of the in-development TV show from fans, and even knows someone who auditioned for it. However, when they reached out to the powers that be about getting involved, they were shut down. No casting announcements have been made for the Twilight TV show, but we suspect Netflix wants to go in a new direction with this series. Facinelli had this to say:
Well, here's the truth, I'm bummed, because I love that character so much, so I hate the idea of having someone else play it. But also, that movie, to me, like so many people, if you watch that movie, it takes you back to a time. There's a nostalgia to it. It takes you back to a time when you were watching it with your mom, or watching it with your friends, when you were watching it in the movie theaters. I feel like there's a part of growing up that people experience over the last 25 years, 20 years, you know, with these movies.
While the actor behind Carlisle is understandably disappointed, he also said he’s “sure it'll be great in its own right." Ashley Greene also offered support for whoever takes over their roles, saying, “We wish them the best". The Alice Cullen actress hilariously said, “We still sound so young!" before her sweet and professional comments.
A new era of Twilight cast members may be upon us, but these actors will never not be famous for playing the roles in the original movies. Taylor Lautner is doing a show called Werewolf Hunter and Kristen Stewart is about to be in a new vampire movie. The five-film saga recently came back to theaters as the book series turned just 20, and the Cullen Clan continues to keep busy going to all sorts of fan-centric conventions, past the Michigan appearance.
So, while they might not be the new project, at least they are all still staying connected to the franchise and the genre.
