Listen up spider monkeys! It’s time to dust off your Team Edward and Team Jacob tees. Twilight is officially coming back!
Are you ready to sink your teeth into some exciting news? Lionsgate Television is developing a TV series based on the beloved Twilight books and movies. In case you lived under a rock during 2005-2012 (or weren’t a 12-year-old fangirl), the series of books and films follow the love story between three star-crossed lovers—a suburban wallflower named Bella Swan, the devastatingly handsome vampire, Edward Cullen and her best friend turned love interest, Jacob Black, who (you guessed it) is a hunky, shapeshifting werewolf with perfect washboard abs.
These Stephanie Meyer books have been hailed as a defining moment in early 2000s literature, with a whopping 160 million copies sold globally. The upcoming Twilight TV series is still in its nascent stages and lacks a network, platform, or lead writer, but we’re eagerly awaiting any updates like a vampire thirsting for blood. But rest assured, the series is sure to be worth the wait, given the passionate fan base and the ‘immortal’ legacy of the source material.
As per reports, it is anticipated that Meyer will be involved in the upcoming adaptation of her popular book series, similar to her role in the original four films. Starring a then-unknown trio of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, the film franchise based on the Twilight books generated over $3.4 billion in global box office revenue, making it one of the most financially successful book-to-screen adaptations to date.
While it may not have had the same grandiose scale as the Harry Potter or The Hunger Games franchises, Twilight took a more indie and slightly quirky approach with its 2008 debut film directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Following its success at the box office, subsequent adaptations boasted larger budgets and were adored by fans worldwide.
The lead trio was also launched into stratospheric fame with the cult-favourite movies, and all three have since spoken about the impact the series had on their lives. Pattinson shared in previous interviews that the series was misunderstood, and that it might be better read as an “existential art house film.” Perhaps future Twilight show episodes can expand on his ideas about the plot.
“It’s a weird story, Twilight, It’s not just like—it’s strange how people responded a lot to it,” Pattinson said in 2019. “I guess the books are very romantic, but at the same time, it’s not like The Notebook romantic. The Notebook is very sweet and heartbreaking, but Twilight is about this guy, and he finds the one girl he wants to be with, and he also wants to eat her. I mean, not eat her, but drink her blood or whatever. It’s not that other people are telling them they can’t be together, it’s his own body telling him that.”
The premise of the upcoming Twilight TV show remains shrouded in mystery. However, it has been eleven years since Breaking Dawn - Part 2 concluded the Twilight Saga on the silver screen, leaving fans eager for more.
In response to this clamouring demand, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer stated in 2017 that there are still countless untold stories waiting to be explored. His comments referred to both The Hunger Games and Twilight franchises, two of the most prominent intellectual properties under Lionsgate’s purview.
In the wake of yet another highly-debated reboot, with Max (formerly known as HBO Max) revealing plans for a faithful TV adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series, it seems as though original concepts are becoming increasingly rare. However, the controversial news of Rowling’s involvement and the decision to recast the beloved characters has left many fans feeling uncertain about the project.
With news of the upcoming Twilight TV show also causing a stir, it appears that nostalgia is at an all-time high, and audiences are eager to revisit familiar stories in new and exciting ways.
