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Credit: LionsgateTwilight, one of the biggest media franchises of the early 2000s, is finally coming back, but this time as a television series.
The Twilight series was part of the boom of fantasy and science fiction franchises aimed at young adults in the 2000s, alongside fellow Lionsgate property The Hunger Games. The film series, based on the mega-popular books by Stephenie Meyer, began as a relatively low-budget attempt to adapt the vampire-centric and eventually ballooned into five films that collectively grossed $3.3 billion and sold millions of copies of its indie-inflected soundtracks. Plus, it inspired the nearly-as-profitable 50 Shades of Grey series starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan.
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With those numbers at stake, it is no surprise that Lionsgate would be looking to bring Twilight back in some capacity. Part of that has been due to stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart having moved on to critically acclaimed film careers outside the franchise; both actors have been pretty blunt in their lack of desire to return to the vampire vs. werewolves vs. other vampire battles.
But now, Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns has revealed (via Deadline) that the studio is ready to return to Twilight. At the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom 2024 conference, Burns announced that Twilight was set to return as a television series, saying, “We’re going to go out with the Twilight series, an animated series, I think there’ll be a lot of interest in that.”
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The Lionsgate executive also mentioned that the studio was planning on continuing making TV series set in the John Wick universe, continuing, “I think we’ll take one of our great action franchises starring Keanu Reeves, I think it’ll be a television series.”
It appears that Lionsgate is eager to reboot some of its dependable IP, after the commercial success of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes to revive the Jennifer Lawrence franchise with Rachel Zegler. No word yet on who might be brought in to replace Edward and Bella in animated form, but there have to be enough Twilight fans to make it worthwhile.
Would you watch a Twilight TV series? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below!