Twilight was not a phase. Following the vampire phenomenon taking the world by storm in the early '00s with Stephenie Meyer’s series of novels and the movies only making the franchise even larger, there’s more plans for Edward and Bella brewing over at Lionsgate. In fact, the vice chairman of the studio, Michael Burns, recently offered an update on a Twilight TV show that’s been in the works since last year, and as a longtime fan of the romance, the latest news has me even more excited for what’s coming out of it.
Burns recently spoke about what’s going on with Lionsgate’s Twilight plans, per Variety. Here’s what he had to say:
We’re going to go out with the ‘Twilight’ series, an animated series, I think there’ll be a lot of interest in that.
Since April 2023, we’ve known that Lionsgate has been pursuing a way to reboot the Twilight series after Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart led the original movies. But, now we know it’s going to be an animated series rather than live action. What a solid idea! While I thoroughly enjoyed the initial Twilight movies, there was always something a bit odd about all the wonky makeup and CGI werewolves in the live-action franchise. And don’t even get me started on the uncanny valley that was Edward and Bella’s baby, Renesmee!!
Having an animated adaptation gives the franchise room to tell Stephenie Meyer’s vampire romance without some of the challenges that the franchise had to deal with prior that, which perhaps made it more of a meme than expected by fans of the angsty love story.
For the time being, very little is known about what’s in store for the Twilight series, except for this new piece of information that offers up a new medium to explore the franchise through. The decision for Lionsgate to reboot Twilight most certainly has to be inspired by the movie’s becoming popular among a new generation of fans in recent years. The series is so popular these days that it’s even getting its own LEGO set!!
Another exciting element of Twilight being a TV series is the potential of original cast members perhaps returning, since age would not be an issue via animation. While I don’t necessarily expect Kristen Stewart or Robert Pattinson (the latter of whom is currently a first-time expecting father), Peter Facinelli for example has shared his readiness to return to the world of Forks. Plus, without having live-action actors who are constantly aging, Lionsgate could build out a Twilight universe that could include spinoff Twilight series.
While we wait for more news about the upcoming Twilight TV show, you can stream the entire live-action saga with a Hulu subscription.
