Credit: LionsgateIf you’re ready to see Robert Pattinson all fanged up again, you may be in luck. (Kind of).
While today Robert Pattinson is best known for roles such as Bruce Wayne in Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022), there was a time when the actor was synonymous with Twilight. For years, the actor – who first entered the limelight by playing Cedric Diggory, the Triwizard Tournament rival of Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) – was paid to portray the sparkly, morose vampire Edward Cullen.
Popular though the character and the franchise on the whole may have been, Pattinson made no secret of his distaste of the role. Pattinson often expressed his frustrations with the character’s obsessive, brooding nature and the unrealistic romantic ideal Edward represented. He found it difficult to connect with the character’s traits and frequently mocked the storyline in interviews, admitting that the books’ popularity puzzled him.
“It’s a weird story, Twilight,” he told Variety in 2020. “It’s not just like – it’s strange how people responded a lot to it,” he said. “I guess the books are very romantic, but at the same time, it’s not like The Notebook romantic.”
Two years earlier, he also told Variety that he “stopped mentally progressing around the time when I started doing those movies.”
In recent years, it seems like Pattinson’s attitude has softened somewhat towards the franchise. “It’s not even cool to be a hater anymore,” Pattinson told People in 2022. “That’s so 2010.”
At the same time, it’s debatable whether Pattinson – who recently welcomed his first child, a daughter, with fiancée Suki Waterhouse – would ever return as Edward Cullen.
Despite the actor claiming that with “the amount of time I’ve spent moisturizing, I am ready to play 17 at a moment’s notice,” the fact is that it would be pretty hard to convince audiences that he, Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black), and the rest of the Twilight cast are still in their teenage years, over a decade after The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012) hit theaters.
Midnight Sun, an animated series adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s novel and the retelling of Twilight from Edward Cullen’s perspective, is officially in development.
Midnight Sun, an animated series adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's novel and the retelling of Twilight from Edward Cullen's perspective, is officially in development. pic.twitter.com/iSzk3l7dnp
— Netflix (@netflix) September 4, 2024
But we may have some good news on that front. This week, Netflix confirmed plans to adapt “Midnight Sun” – a companion novel to “Twilight,” also written by its OG author, Stephenie Meyer. As was previously teased by Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns, the plan is to give it the animation treatment. Check out the full announcement below:
Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer’s 2020 companion novel to her best-selling book series Twilight, is set to be adapted into a forthcoming animated series, which is currently in development. A retelling of the first entry in the Twilight story, Midnight Sun unfolds entirely from the perspective of Edward Cullen, the captivating, and yes, extremely sparkly vampire who catches a young Bella Swan’s attention.
Meyer will act as executive producer of Midnight Sun alongside her Fickle Fish Films partner Meghan Hibbett, with Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen from Temple Hill Entertainment, and Erik Feig and Samie Kim Falvey from Picturestart. Sinead Daly, known for Tell Me Lies, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Raised by Wolves, and The Get Down, will also serve as executive producer and writer for the series.
One glaring omission from this announcement was any mention of a cast.
While it’s possible that Netflix will recruit a whole new cast of voice actors for the project, some have theorized that the streaming platform’s silence on the matter is because it’s trying to secure the original actors – something that would be much easier for an animated project than it would a live-action film. (For context, Robert Pattinson is now 38 years old, making him over 20 years older than his bloodsucking counterpart).
To some fans, this is just wishful thinking. “I need them to get Robert Pattinson on board with the Midnight Sun series because he is the only man on earth that can give Edward’s insufferable inner monologue the voiceover it deserves,” wrote @mescalstyles.
Robert Pattinson waking up to the news about #MidnightSun knowing he will be expected to star in another Twilight saga movie.
Robert Pattinson waking up to the news about #MidnightSun knowing he will be expected to star in another Twilight saga movie.
— Garrett Burgess (@garrettrburgess) May 4, 2020
Meanwhile, as @sarahstephs pointed out, “Everyone saying there’s no way Robert Pattinson would reprise his role in the Midnight Sun animated series… he JUST discovered voice acting, so it’s actually never been more likely (I’m manifesting).” (The actor voiced a part in last year’s The Boy and the Heron from Studio Ghibli).
Would you like to see Robert Pattinson reprise the role of Edward Cullen?