Hold on spider monkey, another era of Twilight is officially on the way! Considering its been over a decade since the Twilight saga ending that left fans stunned, we were wondering if Stephenie Meyer’s phenomenon would ever get a new adaptation, and Twihards, our wishes have been granted. The latest news about the future of Twilight sounds even better than I expected, but I have some questions to talk about.

Whoa, Midnight Sun Is Getting An Adaptation With Netflix

Earlier this year, we received word that Lionsgate was developing an animated Twilight series, but new developments have just emerged. Check out what Netflix posted:

Prior to this we had no idea about two details here. One, that Netflix would take on the series and two, that none other than 2020’s Midnight Sun would be the avenue to which Twilight would return. In a Variety report, it was confirmed that this Netflix series is indeed the same one from Lionsgate that’s been in the works. Stephenie Meyer is on board as an executive producer and The Get Down writer Sinead Daly is penning the show.

Will The Twilight Cast Reprise Their Roles? 

While the Twilight movies received a lot of hate when they were released, they are also among the best vampire movies we’ve ever seen. It has me curious if some (or all) of the original cast of the movies will come back to voice their roles or if Netflix will start fresh. Even though Kristen Stewart recently signed on for another vampire movie, my gut tells me that she and Robert Pattinson will want to pass off the torch to new actors. Though, I could see some of the other actors getting into the vocal booth to reprise their roles.

Does This Mean We’ll Get Midnight Sun Sequels? 

Now, when I originally heard there would be a Twilight animated series I was excited to see the fantasy romance find a new medium to tell its story, especially after the live-action movies dealt with so many awkward production issues to stay faithful to the book. I imagined the series going book by book, but perhaps not having quite as many differences the Twilight movies and book had.

But this is a completely different concept here. Now, the Twilight series will actually adapt one of Meyer’s books for the first time. I have to wonder if Meyer came to the producers and suggested her latest Twilight book be adapted, and if in turn she’ll now be inspired to adapt the rest of the series from Edward Cullen’s perspective, too. The fans certainly want it.

Questions Aside, I’m Even More Excited For The Return Of Twilight Now 

As a longtime fan of the Twilight saga, I feel this is actually the perfect move for the return of Twilight. While I grew up with Bella’s narration, I really love Edward’s perspective even more because you are in the mind of a vampire who can read minds (including the one of his future-telling sister Alice Cullen). In many ways Midnight Sun is better than Twilight, and I will absolutely be watching this with my Netflix subscription once it’s finished.

SPOILERS are ahead for Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. 

There are some moviegoing experiences one never forgets, and the end of Breaking Dawn Part 2 certainly makes the list of one of my core memories gazing up at a big screen after being a fan of the Twilight books and movies as a teen. I was on a vacation during the Thanksgiving holiday week in the desert, but obviously I had to catch the last Twilight movie with fellow fans on opening night. So, we found a super late screening (because that’s all they had in those days) and watched the final film of the vampire saga. I swear, my tired self thought I was hallucinating when I watched Carlisle getting beheaded and the a surprise battle scene played out. “That wasn’t in the book” raced through my mind and my jaw proceeded to be dropped for the rest of the movie’s runtime. 

It’s not easy to pull off a mind-blowing plot twist in a movie, but Breaking Dawn Part 2 was able to give Twilight fans like myself something surprising to be stunned by, thanks to the clever ending. And yes, Stephenie Meyer was involved. If you were ever curious about the story behind the movie's ending, sit back and read on...  

What Happens At The End Of Breaking Dawn

Before I get into how the ending came about, it’s time to refresh your memory about what happened in Breaking Dawn Part 2. After Kristen Stewart’s Bella becomes a vampire, the storyline didn’t go right to a happy ending. 

The Book’s Ending

At the end of the Breaking Dawn book, the Volturi decide to leave the Cullens alone after they are getting ready for a fight. In the very last chapter of Breaking Dawn “The Happily Ever After,” Edward Cullen shares that the Volturi leader, Aro, was “terrified of Bella” and her vampire mind shield powers, along with the fact that they were outnumbered by the additional vampires and werewolves assembled by the Cullens. Alice “gave Aro the excuse he needed to get out of the fight” per the book’s words. 

The book suggests the Volturi may be back someday, but the Cullens are confident they can outsmart them again whenever that happens. And in terms of Edward and Bella, they live happily ever after “forever and forever and forever” as Edward mutters on the last page.  

The Movie’s Ending

In the 2012 franchise closer, things go down a little differently. The Cullens have assembled a ton of vampires and werewolves to fight the Volturi, but at first a fight does appear to break out, and there’s a ton of casualties including Carlisle’s head being severed by Aro, Dakota Fanning’s Jane getting decimated by a werewolf and Aro being killed off by Edward and Bella. The scene is framed as reality (hence my shock) before it’s revealed that the scene was simply a vision of Alice Cullen (who can see the future), that she was sharing with Aro on the battlefield. Then, the Volturi stand down, and Edward and Bella get their big screen send off. 

Stephenie Meyer Apparently Had Doubts About How The Breaking Dawn Ending Could Work For The Movie

While I was absolutely shocked when the Breaking Dawn Part 2 twist ending initially played out, among comparing and contrasting how the finale plays out, I’ve always found the movie version to be a clever solution to a bit of an anticlimactic ending to a four book series (from a visual standpoint anyway). If the Breaking Dawn ending had been adapted beat by beat, it would be a 20-minute sequence of vampires initially talking in a field (it was a 68-page showdown in the novel). 

Apparently Stephenie Meyer knew this about her ending, too, and even debated whether to give the rights to Summit to make a movie for this reason. Per screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg to Buzzfeed: 

Can you imagine if the Twilight saga had just ended with Eclipse? The fans needed an ending, and luckily Rosenberg met with Meyer about a new ending. 

Then, Meyer And Twilight’s Screenwriter Thought Of A New Ending To The Saga Together 

In the same interview, Melissa Rosenberg shared that she and Stephenie Meyer “both came up” with the twist ending together. Here’s how it came about:  

Isn’t it neat that Stephenie Meyer was so involved? I really love when changes made in movie versions of books get the go ahead by authors, because sometimes even they have ways they want to update the source material. Especially for the film medium. Director Bill Condon said this to Vulture about the alterations: 

It’s a great point, because Stephenie Meyer wasn’t really the “writing battles” type, but from a movie standpoint, it was awesome to see vampires and werewolves in action. 

The Filmmakers Had A Blast Crafting The Battle… And Deciding Who To Kill First 

Once Meyer, Rosenberg and Condon were all on board for the twist, it was time to craft the scene. Check out what the director also told Vulture about how it all started for him: 

Going back to Melissa Rosenberg’s Buzzfeed interview at the time, she was the one who decided it would be Carlisle who would get the first “death”. In her words: 

What a fun job for Rosenberg. Condon also offered more insight on who was on the chopping block when they were creating the shocking sequence: 

Even though Meyer originally signed on to the idea, she did have some thoughts about who would die in the vision. Bringing us to this next point. 

At First, Meyer Wasn’t Totally Behind All The Decisions For The Battle Scene

Writing and executing the scene wasn’t without some pushback from Meyer. In a Los Angeles Times written article at the time of release, Bill Condon spoke to some of the conversations he had with the Twilight author.  

Of course, ultimately, they came to a compromise and we got the excellent scene in Breaking Dawn Part 2 that had me (and tons of other fans) on the floor opening weekend. Stephenie Meyer said this to same publication about the scene staying in the spirit of what she wrote in her bestselling Twilight conclusion: 

Technically, it is true to the book, but with the added factor of Alice's vision to really illustrate what would happen if they fought. 

Twilight Fans Went Wild For The Breaking Dawn Twist Ending 

That brings us back to the fans. The scene was very satisfying for fans because of how unexpected it was (and well executed). When the movie turned ten a couple of years ago, Taylor Lautner said this to CinemaBlend about fan reactions: 

Fans still love talking about it, too. Here’s one Twitter reaction: 

Another person said their “favorite audience reaction” in a theater was actually this scene. Check it: 

And, here’s one more: 

Well, there you have it! There’s the story behind that wild twist ending for Breaking Dawn Part 2. I’m not sure if any upcoming book to screen adaptations will match the surprise of this, but hey, it’s another reason why the Twilight saga is so iconic. 

About three things I’m absolutely positive about: First, Edward Cullen is a vampire. Second, his love story with Bella Swan continues to live on through Stephenie Meyer’s books and the five-movie Twilight saga starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. And third, that it’s time that you unconditionally and irrevocably stream said movies.

As colder weather comes along, now seems like a great time to go back and relive the teen romance franchise. Hold on spider-monkey! We’re about to take you on a speedy ride through Forks’ forests to find the best place where you can stream (or rent/ buy) the Twilight films. And then, you can debate on which movie in the franchise is better all you want.

Twilight (2008)

What Twilight Is About: Everything about Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) life changes when she is uprooted from Arizona, relocates to the Pacific Northwest, and meets the mysterious Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) at her new high school in Twilight. If the fact that her school crush is an immortal vampire and part of a large community with a dark secret isn’t wild enough, the 17-year-old girl soon also finds herself being hunted by a nomadic tribe of vampires that doesn’t have the same morals, or eating habits, as her new crush.

• Rent/Buy Twilight on Amazon.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

What Twilight: New Moon Is About: After Edward learns that his family may be more attracted to human blood than previously thought, the immortal vampire breaks up with Bella Swan and flees town in hopes that she’ll be safer off in The Twilight Saga: New Moon. With Edward gone on his personal journey of discovery, Bella finds solace in Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), an old friend and member of a pack of werewolves whose Quileute tribe has had a long-standing truce with the Cullen vampires.

• Stream The Twilight Saga: New Moon on Starz.
• Rent/Buy The Twilight Saga: New Moon on Amazon.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

What The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Is About: The feud between vampires and werewolves is on the verge of turning into total war in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, as Bella Swan is forced to make a decision between the love of Edward Cullen and friendship of Jacob Black. To make matters worse, Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard), a vengeful and driven vampire, sets out to find and kill Bella.

• Rent/Buy The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on Amazon.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011)

What The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 Is About: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, the penultimate chapter in the vampire movie franchise, sees the highest stakes yet after a newly married Bella Swan discovers she is pregnant with Edward Cullen’s child. The pregnancy is already dangerous due to the fact that a vampire baby could kill its human mother, but things get worse when news of the child escalates the tension between vampires and werewolves.

• Stream The Twilight Saga: Breaking Bad Part 1 on Starz..
• Rent/Buy The Twilight Saga: Breaking Bad Part 1 on Amazon.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012)

Everything comes to a head in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, the epic conclusion of the popular vampire romance franchise. Upon giving birth and getting used to her new life, Bella Swan’s bliss is short-lived, as the Volturi learn of her newborn child’s existence, who has been aging quickly, and give the Cullens a death sentence. With the help of friends and other allies around the world, Bella and Edward prepare for one final battle.

• Rent/Buy The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 on Amazon.

Additional Twilight Content To Check Out

If watching the films isn’t enough for you, there are actually two other Twilight books that you can check out:

Midnight Sun

Written by Stephenie Meyer, Midnight Sun is what Twilight fans have been asking for – the first Twilight book, but from the perspective of Edward Cullen. The novel takes a deep dive into the mentality of Edward Cullen and his feelings for Bella, and takes you on an entirely new journey into the world you thought you knew. The book was released on August 4, 2020, so it’s only a few years old. There’s even a planned animated adaptation in development for Netflix.

Life And Death: Twilight Reimagined

Also written by Stephenie Meyer, this book is the same as the first Twilight novel, but it actually gender-swaps Edward and Bella – instead, it’s a male human, and a female vampire, named Beaufort Swan and Edythe Cullen. The novel was released on October 6, 2015.

It's been over a decade now since the Twilight cast said goodbye to the series. Even so, it's always fun to revisit it years later, and then compare the differences from the books to the novels. Either way, you’ll be entertained on your next cold, gloomy day.

As you may have noticed, the last couple of years have made for an unexpected resurgence of Twilight. This can likely be attributed to the 2020 quarantine days when people were revisiting the comfort movies of their past, but Stephenie Meyer also surprised fans with the release of her hotly anticipated alternate version of Bella and Edward’s romance in Midnight Sun. Now that many fans have read the book, we have to wonder if Hollywood will seek to adapt Twilight from Edward Cullen’s perspective. 

Three of the actors behind the Cullen Clan recently reunited for the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo: Kellan Lutz, Ashley Greene and Jackson Rathbone. During the panel, Lutz spoke out about his interest in being part of a Midnight Sun movie. In his words (via The Wrap): 

Kellan Lutz, of course, played Emmett Cullen, one of Edward’s vampire brothers, in all five Twilight movies. During the panel, Jackson Rathbone (known for playing the often silent Jasper Hale) stayed quiet regarding Midnight Sun talk. Greene, on the other hand, who played fan-favorite Alice Cullen, chimed in, sharing that she’d also like to join him in a Midnight Sun movie should it ever happen. 

Midnight Sun retells the events of the first Twilight book from the point of view of Edward Cullen instead of Bella Swan. The book that Stephenie Meyer held from fans for over a decade when it was leaked on the internet while she was in the middle of writing, hit bookshelves last summer, and it has held Amazon's bestsellers for YA fiction since. 

In all honesty, adapting Midnight Sun would be difficult, but if it could be done it could be done one of two ways. The first way is with the entire original cast reprising their roles, but with the spin being Edward Cullen’s story this time. In that instance, there are a couple roadblocks in a sense that that includes Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, who are major stars. One of them is set to play Batman, the other up for a Best Actress Oscar. Both are likely not jumping at the idea of playing these characters from their past after giving years to the craze. 

Additionally, the actors are older than they were when they made the first Twilight movies, and yet Midnight Sun follows their characters when they are supposed to be resembling teenagers. Don’t get me wrong, the main cast still looks great, but it would just be odd. The second way you could make a Midnight Sun movie is by treating it like a remake/reboot of the franchise from the perspective of Edward instead of Bella. 

Perhaps it could be a mix of the two, and actors like Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene could find themselves different roles in a new Twilight movie. We’ll have to think about this more. Either way, it’s great to hear the Cullen Clan is back together and still into their vampire roots. 

It looks like another thunderstorm just stopped by in Forks, Washington because Alice and Emmett Cullen are back in their uniforms and ready to hit some home runs. Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz, who played Alice and Emmett Cullen in the Twilight saga from 2008 to 2012 across the five films of the vampire saga, reunited, and it feels so good to see them back in character, even if briefly. 

The actors haven’t aged a day in these photos of themselves back in their Twilight attire from the famous baseball scene. Check out these two in character again: 

In all honesty, for a moment I thought this was a throwback photo, but no, it’s Alice and Emmett in 2021 still lurking in the forest in baseball gear. The actors, who played siblings for five years, looked happier than ever to be reunited and in costume. Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene got back into character for a short parody video for Matt Cutshall’s emo’s not dead series. Check it out: 

In the video, Matt Cutshall transforms into an emo look on the fly when he gets the wrong idea about his girlfriend (played by his real partner Arielle Vandenberg) and another man. Cutshall dons a long black wig, thick eyeliner and a black sweatshirt, and goes full “emo” before running into Emmett and Alice somewhere in Forks. 

Cutshall and Kellan Lutz’s Emmett take part in a short stunt fight scene before Ashley Greene comes out as Alice to assure Emmett that Cutshall is not a vampire, just very emo. It’s a funny and pretty random reunion for the two Twilight actors, but it is great to see them back as the vampires we’ll always remember them as. Their mutual co-star, Nikki Reed, who played Rosalie Hale in the series, got into character in the comment section:  

The pure nostalgia in this moment is through the roof! Of course, Twilight was smack dab in the middle of many people’s “emo phase” at the time. The original movie included some music who were part of that scene, with Paramore writing two songs just for the film. It’s a short parody for the actor’s to get back into character, but it goes to show these two can still embody these roles; not unlike their vampire characters, it’s as if they didn’t even age. 

Kellan Lutz is married to Brittany Lutz and is raising his first daughter, Ashtyn, who is nearing eight months old. Ashley Greene is married to Australian/Lebanese TV personality Paul Khoury. Both actors are still finding projects to act in, with Greene most recently working with Harry Potter’s Tom Felton on a movie and asking questions about whether Malfoy or Alice would outsmart the other. 

Obviously seeing them back together reminds us about how much we miss the Cullens and Kristen Stewart’s Bella Swan. Breaking Dawn Part 2 may have concluded the franchise, but we have hope that someday Stephenie Meyer will at least write her planned sequel to her last Twilight book. In the meantime, the movies’ Edward Cullen is about to star in The Batman, and K-Stew has taken on Princess Diana for Spencer, coming to theaters November 5. 

Did you know another Twilight title is among upcoming book adaptations? Midnight Sun is being developed into an animated Netflix series! But, while we wait for that, let's look back on how the vampire movies and books stacked up against each other in the blockbuster films.

There are two breeds of Twilight fans, and no, I’m not talking about Team Edward vs. Team Jacob. You either fell in love with Stephenie Meyer’s novels first or found the series through the movies starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. No matter the avenue in which you found your way to Edward and Bella, it probably changed the way you look at the franchise in one way or another. So, why don’t we compare notes and talk about the major differences between the Twilight movies and the bestselling books they are based on?

The last of Stephenie Meyer’s four-part saga was released just a few months before Twilight hit the big screen and became a cultural phenomenon back in 2008. As the Hollywood movies found their massive audience, the Twilight saga continued to become bigger with each new installment. And nearly a decade after the ending of the franchise , we’re still talking about what Twilight's main stars are doing now, rewatching the films on spare weekends and reading more Twilight such as with the release of 2020’s Midnight Sun. Let’s talk about how the source material and movie adaptations are different:

How Bella Tells Edward She Knows He’s A Vampire

One especially iconic scene in the first Twilight movie is when Edward and Bella stand in the forest together as Bella Swan puts two and two together concerning her crush’s true identity. Edward Cullen famously belts out “Say it out loud!” as she stands in front of him and responds with “vampire!” Sure, that’s cinematic and all, but it did not happen that way in the Twilight book.

Originally, Bella tells Edward her findings about him while she is in his car on the way back to Forks from Port Angeles. The revelation occurs after Edward comes to her rescue to pull her off the group of strangers who crowd her in the city, and were apparently thinking some uncouth thoughts about Bella. When it comes to this difference, I think fans appreciate seeing two distinct versions of Edward and Bella’s big turning point.

Bella And Charlie Were Not Diner Regulars In The Books

Bella Swan’s relationship with her father Charlie is a complex and interesting one in both the books and movies, but when it was adapted to screen, one key change was made to their dynamic. In Meyer’s books, Bella and Charlie don’t spend much of their time in a diner downing berry cobbler as the movies portray.

In the books, Bella is something of a cook and she makes the meals at home for Charlie. This may seem like a minor thing but the Twilight movies would not have been the same if Kristen Stewart’s character was always in the kitchen serving her dad another recipe. It shows a different vision for the teen that Meyer had, which was certainly more traditional.

There Was No ‘Cullen Crest’ In The Twilight Books

Starting in the first Twilight movie, it’s established that the Cullen family wear their own Cullen Crest around their necks. The symbol involves a roaring lion standing over three clovers and an open hand above its head. In the movies, the Cullens are often seen sporting the Cullen Crest, but it’s a completely new concept created for the movies.

My guess is the Cullen Crest was created by the costume department to create some uniform to the vampire family’s looks and their loyalty to each other. And honestly, it was also likely added to sell movie-themed merchandise as well.

The Book Cover In Twilight Is Not Directly Referenced In The Original Text

As you may recall from the first Twilight movie, there’s a scene early on when Bella drops an apple in the cafeteria and Edward bounces it off his foot and into his hands exactly how the picture on the front of the original book cover looks. It’s a clever reference to the cover, but it does not reflect a scene in the novel.

When it comes to the reason behind Stephenie Meyer having two hands holding an apple on the cover of the bestseller in the first place, it is more symbolic. Per the author’s website, the apple represents the “forbidden fruit” from Genesis because she loved the phrase “the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.” As Meyer explained, that phrase is exactly what Bella ends up with Edward. She also said she finds the cover’s apple to represent “choice.”

The ‘Spider Monkey’ Movie Line Was Picked Last Minute

There’s a lot of quotes from the Twilight movies that are surprisingly funny, but the one that takes the cake the most is when Edward said “You better hold on tight, spider monkey” before taking Bella on a gorgeous jaunt through the skies of Forks. No, this was not part of the book.

As Catherine Hardwicke told MTV back in 2009, one night while they were shooting the movie she realized Edward and Bella needed a line whilst climbing that tree so it wasn’t simply another scene of them “looking into each other’s eyes.” Hardwicke wrote down a list of options for the actors to pick from, and Pattinson decided upon the spider monkey one. Honestly, that’s way better than some of the options like “prepare for liftoff” or “you’re not scared of heights, are you?”

Victoria Only Shows Up To Bella’s Prom In The Movie

At the end of the first Twilight movie, fans got a fun tease for the second movie when Victoria is seen watching Edward and Bella while they are at prom. At the time, the couple thinks danger is pretty much behind them, but Victoria’s secret appearance at the high school event helps signal more trouble on the way after Victoria’s lover James was killed by the Cullen Clan.

While the scene is actually a really great way to set up New Moon, it was not canon in the first book. Victoria does not show up to the prom, however you could argue that she might have since it is told from Bella’s point of view.

How Edward Proposes To Bella Differs 

And New Moon ends with its own great cliffhanger when Edward finally agrees to turn Bella into a vampire only if she will marry him!! The scene is preceded by a more formal proposal from Edward in Eclipse when they are talking in their bedroom about waiting for marriage before having sex. In the movie sequence, Edward offers Bella his mother’s ring and tells her he promises to love her “every moment, forever.”

In the books however, Edward proposes to Bella for the first time at the end of New Moon after the Cullens vote on her becoming a vampire as a unit. When he does so, Bella actually thinks Edward is joking about it at first.

Jacob Black Is A Lot Taller In The Books

In the The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Taylor Lautner comes in with his glowing tan that won the hearts of Team Jacob fans after he’s introduced in the original movie as the unassuming boy next door. In the books, Jacob Black is described a bit differently than Lautner’s portrayal. The actor is 5’10, standing five inches taller than Kristen Stewart’s Bella and a few inches shorter than Robert Pattinson’s Edward. In the books however, Jacob is much taller. Much… much taller.

In fact, he’s the tallest character in the Twilight series, standing at about 6’7. If the movies had stayed true to the source material, it would have been a very different view when scenes of the werewolf are shown, especially between the first and second movie, since that is when he has a nearly foot growth spurt. Perhaps when Lautner was considered to be recast, height was a factor!

Bella’s Friends Are Barely Around In The Movies

Now, Bella Swan isn’t exactly the best role model for how one should balance their high school life. Girlie spends so much time with her boyfriend, she’s ready to die for him. But the movies make her seem more like a loner type than she was actually written as by Stephenie Meyer. In both the books and movies, Bella is seen on multiple occasions with a friend group consisting of Jessica, Angela, Mike and Eric and while she does share some scenes with them throughout the movies, she mostly avoids spending time with them. The actress behind Jessica, Anna Kendrick, recently spoke to feeling like a "bystander" to the franchise, and we're not surprised given the small role.

Bella’s human friends are more important to the books and overall storyline. Although Edward is still at the top of her mind, she does have some interesting arcs with each of these characters that the movie chooses to gloss over. But to be fair, there’s a lot of storylines the movies had to juggle and cutting the human characters’ screen time certainly makes sense.

We Never Get To See Alice Cullen’s Backstory In The Movies

Throughout the four Twilight books, fans are introduced to a lot of lore regarding the Cullen family, including how each member of the family came to become a vampire and then “vegetarian” after meeting its founder Carlisle Cullen. In The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the movies even go into a number of flashback sequences most memorably through scenes featuring Rosalie Cullen and Jasper Cullen, but the movies fail to go into depth about Alice Cullen.

Alice is one of the most important vampires in the entire Twilight series and she was pretty short-changed by the movies failing to take time to get through her origins, romance with Jasper and how her precognitive ability really works. If only the Twilight Saga could have been a TV show!

In The Books, Bella Makes Some College Plans

Another issue book fans may find with the movies is how the Twilight Saga films decide to cut out a subplot involving Bella Swan making plans to attend college. In the books, Edward Cullen is very supportive of his human girlfriend attending university and Eclipse starts with Bella getting accepted into the University of Alaska and Edward additionally encouraging her to apply for Ivy League school Dartmouth, which he got into.

And in the book for Breaking Dawn, Bella decides to attend the university for a year after getting married (despite thinking it's a little pointless) and remain human, that is until she gets pregnant with Renesmee and she has to be turned into a vampire prematurely.

There’s More To Edward Cullen’s Early Vampire Years

Although the initial saga in both the books and movies are told from Bella Swan’s perspective, Edward Cullen is still a huge character to the series and as far as the movies go, there’s just not enough of his backstory and character development told that fans read in the books. For example, the movies do a bit of glossing over in regards to Cullen’s early days as a vampire.

Edward Cullen had a rebellious period in the ‘20s where he became somewhat of a vigilante and used his mind reading to take down the worst people around. The movie for Eclipse does bring this to the viewer’s attention, but there’s a lot more to his early days before Bella that informs his character that we just don’t get to see play out in the movies. Again, this was likely left out due to time constraints.

Changes Were Made To The Vampire Covens

Later in the Twilight movies, the movie franchise explores the myriad of vampire covens from all over the world who end up being part of the larger storyline. In the books the covens that are mentioned are the Denalis, Amazons, Romanians, Irish and Egyptians, in addition to the Cullen’s Olympic coven.

In the movies, the filmmakers decided to also add a French coven and a nomadic Japanese vampire named Toshiro. Some of the specific vampire characters from the international covens in the books also are not in the movies.

Jacob Imprinting On Renesmee Isn’t As Creepy In the Books

When Breaking Dawn Part 2 came out, there was a ton of backlash regarding Jacob Black imprinting on Bella’s daughter Renesmee and rightfully so! The movies do not explain the whole “imprinting” situation with care.

To book fans, it made more sense because the books had spent time developing what it means to imprint on someone over time in a way that was more sweet and endearing to the books concluding than anything else. But to fans who were not given that explanation, Jacob seeing a long life with Renesmee starting with her as a baby just came off weird. It’s an odd concept to begin with, and it just didn’t translate well on the big screen. Not to mention the decision to make that strange CGI baby.

The Breaking Dawn Finale Battle Was Added To Part 2

Lastly, although there’s definitely more major differences, the most noticeable change between the books and movies comes in the final act of it all. In The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 there was a massive sequence added to the last movie that is not even in the corresponding book.

The battle scene shocked fans because the battle we see in the movie doesn't even happen in Stephenie Meyer's novel. We think all these horrible things are actually happening and then we learn that it’s one of Alice’s most horrible visions. While it was underwhelming for many and strayed away from the books, it did a good job of delivering the unexpected and a major action moment to end the series on.

Now that we’ve talked out the major difference between the books and movies, you can decide for yourself if you have a favorite path to experience Bella and Edward’s love story. Hey, and “both” would be a perfectly acceptable conclusion! Check out how you can stream the Twilight movies here on CinemaBlend and pre-order the awesome Twilight LEGO set!

Team Carlisle anyone? Peter Facinelli’s suave doctor and vampire was the patriarch of the Cullen family in the Twilight Saga. The actor played the character created by Stephenie Meyer to a tee, but his road to nabbing the role was not as clean cut as Carlisle appears on screen. Facinelli likes to joke he bought the role because of one unique gift he decided to send director Catherine Hardwicke at the right time.

Peter Facinelli was not initially interested in making a “vampire movie” when his agent called, but then he decided to crack open Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. While speaking on podcast On the List With Brett Gursky, he shared that he read the book in one night and jumped at auditioning for the role of Carlisle. At first, he didn’t get the role, as he shared:

Peter Facinelli was in his early 30s when Twilight was in production, but at first, it was decided to make Carlisle Cullen a bit older so he'd feel like more of a father figure. It was not book accurate, but the role was obviously meant for Facinelli. In his words:

Now call that luck or destiny, but Peter Facinelli really earned his role on Twilight with that perfect gift for Catherine Hardwicke ahead of the making of the film. He’d been in a waiting room when the coffee table book caught his eye and reminded him of the role he’d lost. Of course, it’s possible he could have earned it without the $30 book, but as he explained, it really allowed him to set himself apart from the other actors up for Carlisle Cullen.

Carlisle Cullen is the nearly 400-year-old vampire who becomes the founder of the Olympic Coven consisting of Esme, Emmett, Alice, Edward, Jasper and Rosalie. Unlike most vampires, he works with human blood on a daily basis as a doctor and encourages his family to become “vegetarians.” The character is the voice of reason in the Cullen Clan and has a pivotal arc throughout the Twilight films.

Years later, Peter Facinelli is proud of his role in Twilight, sharing his interest in returning to the role following the release of Stephenie Meyer’s Midnight Sun book (yet, also acknowledging the age problem). He also recently did a cameo for a music video that recreated the iconic baseball scene.

This past year has seen a huge resurgence for the vampire property, namely with an entire side of TikTok being devoted to fans of the Twilight books and movies. Peter Facinelli’s most recent project is The Vanished, now streaming on Netflix.

Over the past year, the 2008 cult classic Twilight has reentered the public headspace. Between Stephanie Meyer returning to the franchise with Midnight Sun, a hilarious deleted scene being passed around and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson now stepping into some new iconic roles. As it turns out, lightning can in fact strike twice for the vampire love story. One scene from the movie has even inspired pop singer Tessa Violet to step into the Cullens’ cleats for a music video.

The first scene we all think about when it comes to Twilight is the stylized sequence that builds up to the climax of the film where Edward Cullen’s vampire family play a game of baseball together to the tune of Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole.” Check out Tessa Violet’s tribute to the famed cinematic moment for “Games”:

She got it down to Alice Cullen’s high kick! CinemaBlend spoke to Tessa Violet about how the “Games” video came together. Here’s how she got the idea:

The singer was in high school when the Twilight books and films were having a moment, becoming major moments in pop culture. It, of course, divided a generation into the camps of Team Edward and Team Jacob. Tessa Violet recalled in our interview taking turns with friends, reading each chapter aloud to each other over a decade before her “Games” video came to life.

A huge element to Twilight’s resurgence over the last year has been TikTok, with fans often looking back at the movie production’s goofy elements such as how the vampires’ ran on set. Tessa Violet reached out to her manager about the idea, and they decided they ‘have to do this.’ Then came recreating the scene itself alongside her song. Tessa Violet continued:

The music video stars Violet with her band and lovelytheband, who she released a new version with last month. The song is originally off her debut 2019 album Bad Ideas. The end of the song features a hilarious cameo with Peter Facinelli, who played Carlisle Cullen in the movies. The singer shared how she recruited the Twilight talent to join her tribute:

Peter Facinelli clearly didn’t get to come to the baseball field with her to shoot the scene, but they poke perfect fun at how blatantly CGI’d in he is with a funny moment where she says she “can’t believe he’s really here in this location” with him.

The fun video that has certainly reached the Twilight fanbase and racked up over one million views already. Tessa Violet has also released merchandise to go along with her Twilight theme, including a “Team Tessa” shirt in the design of the original Hot Topic t-shirt of the time. It just goes to show that we continue to live in a blue-filtered Twilight world, and we’re all thriving in it.

Haven’t you heard? “We live in a Twilight world!” That actual line from Tenet knows what it’s all about since we’d like to believe there is more to see from the cultural phenomenon in the future. Fans of the franchise were given a treat over the summer when the long-awaited Midnight Sun novel hit bookshelves – reigniting our love for Edward and Bella’s romance through the lion’s eyes this time. And during the press tour for Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer has also teased her interest in continuing the series with sequels.

You may have heard the initial report that Stephenie Meyer has ideas for two more Twilight books, but now it's time to delve deeper into what the author has disclosed about what exactly that could mean. During an exclusive virtual appearance for US online book chain Books-A-Million, Meyer had a few key things to say about her plans to continue Twilight. Let’s sink our teeth into it here:

Stephenie Meyer’s Progress On More Twilight Books

Stephenie Meyer pleasantly surprised fans when she disclosed that she has made some progress on two additional Twilight books. She said there are “two more books” within the world she has established that she would like to explore further. Here’s what she said specifically about where she’s at in the writing process:

So basically the ideas are there and written down in a bare bones form somewhere in Stephenie Meyer’s office. She has placed them aside in hopes of working on something completely new first. Now that Midnight Sun has become a No. 1 bestseller, perhaps she’ll be more interested in going back to the book franchise and writing that second chapter!

When The Next Twilight Book Will Be Set

An especially exciting bit of information the author disclosed during the event is the focus of the next Twilight book. As we know, there’s a lot of places Meyer could journey to in a new book from the series, whether it be some sort of prequel about one of the Cullens’ pasts or spin off about a fan-favorite such as Leah. Based on what the author said, we’ll be getting a straight sequel to Breaking Dawn. In her words:

Four years after Breaking Dawn!! What does that look like? We already have so many questions. It’s strange to see her say this, because honestly I didn’t think we’d see another Edward/Bella story after the conclusion she wrote in 2008. We’d imagine there would be a completely different dynamic in play with Bella being more experienced as a vampire and Renesmee being more grown up. Have they moved away from Forks and are Charlie and Jacob still a part of their lives? It’s a really exciting place for the franchise to continue.

Yes, The Volturi Will Be Involved In The Twilight Sequel

Additionally, Meyer talked a little bit about the main villains of the original Twilight series, the Volturi. As you know, the Volturi is a largely powerful coven of vampires that enforce the law, but can have a pretty lethal way of going about it. Bella and Edward got on their bad side in Breaking Dawn when they were under the impression Renesmee was an immortal child (a kid who is turned into a vampire), when Bella did in fact give birth to her.

The miscommunication is cleared up at the end of the series, but Breaking Dawn does leave it open-ended since the Cullens believe the Volturi will seek vengeance for the humiliation they caused them. Here are Stephenie Meyer’s comments on what’s next for the coven:

Anyone just get chills? This is really exciting. It sounds like the Cullens might deal with some sort of secret war with the Volturi as they attempt to get back at the Cullens. Four years gives the Volturi ample time to plan some sort of a clever attack and could make for an intriguing new chapter in the series.

Why Stephenie Meyer Is Holding Off Writing More Twilight Right Now

As pumped as these details make us, we of course cannot ignore the fact that Stephenie Meyer did clearly say that a Twilight sequel is not what she’s jumping to right away after the release of Midnight Sun. She does have a solid explanation as to why she’s not able to move to writing it at the moment though. In her words:

Fans of the author may at least be able to look forward to a completely new world from the author before the Twilight sequel, depending on how things shake out. This, however, isn’t great news for those who have been holding out hope for the trilogy for The Host for years. Since the story about an alien race invading the bodies of humans is technically one of her established worlds, we're now left with two continuations to still impatiently wait for. But, who knows, maybe the author has an awesome new world to introduce us to first.

Meyer Will Tell Us The End Of Twilight On Her Deathbed If She Has To

Now this last point is a bit disheartening, because it's bittersweet. On one hand Meyer makes it clear she wants Twilight fans to know how her saga ends with her intended sequel whether she lives to tell it, but on the other, the fact that she says this makes it sound like she might not get around to it. Check out what she said:

Ok, so she said this with a light tone and Stephenie Meyer is just 46 years young, but still… I really hope we get a sequel sooner than later. And a bold points version just would not be the same. While these teases about the next Twilight book are exciting, this last quote is a reminder that books take time to write and it may take some patience before it's officially in the works.

What do you think about these details about what’s coming next for Twilight? Are you excited or content with how Breaking Dawn closed things out? Of course here at CinemaBlend we'd love to see Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart to return for another movie. Vote in our poll below and stay tuned for more Twilight news.

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Stephenie Meyer fans just witnessed something of a miracle last month. Her fifth Twilight book, Midnight Sun was finally released after over a decade of waiting. For a long time, many of us had given up on reading Twilight from Edward’s perspective – see how she proved us wrong? The release quickly became a bestseller, soaring to No. 1 on the book charts within its first week as it surpassed one million copies sold. Amidst this comeback for Meyer, I can’t help but be reminded of her 2008 book The Host, which I was in the middle of reading when Midnight Sun was first leaked online.

While Meyer is undoubtedly most famous for her take on vampire lore, The Host is her own spin on the science fiction genre, that is (brace for it) arguably more clever than the romance between Edward and Bella. Meyer even told The Guardian she hopes it's the book she's most remembered for. 

At a thick 600 pages, the Twilight author changed things up with a post-apocalyptic story centering on an alien race known as “Souls,” who have invaded Earth and placed themselves inside the body of humans. The story centers on “Wanderer” or Wanda, who takes over the body of Melanie Stryder, a young woman who will not let Wanda make herself at home in her body. Let’s talk through what happened to The Host and why it's time for the author to revisit it after Midnight Sun.

The Host Was Supposed To Be A Trilogy

Although The Host book stood well on its own, the idea of Stephenie Meyer building the story into a series has been exciting to fans – especially ever since she announced plans to create a trilogy that would round out with The Soul and The Seeker. Here’s what Meyer said in 2013 on the heels of the The Host movie adaptation:

The Host is an interesting premise on its own, but there is a lot that could be explored further past the events of the first novel. The 2008 book is this mind war between Melanie and Wanderer. During the time they share the same headspace, Wanderer comes around to appreciating humans and the Earth her people have been decimating. The war between the humans and the alien "Souls" was not over by the end of The Host and a trilogy could fully explore this world that Stephenie Meyer has created and these existential questions that were only beginning to be discussed through the sci-fi romance.

The Host Book Vs. The Movie

The Host was always a more understated aspect of Meyer’s career, but interest majorly fizzled out after a movie adaptation was released in 2013 starring now Oscar-nominee Saoirse Ronan as Wanda, William Hurt and Diane Kruger. The movie that cost $40 million to produce only managed to make $63 million at the box office, placing the returns for the film basically at zero. It was a huge flop. The movie also earned a nine percent on Rotten Tomatoes, making the Twilight franchise's critical acclaim look like high-brow cinema in comparison. Despite its killer cast, yes The Host is still awful. But it was also handled incredibly poorly by Gattaca and Lord of War writer/director Andrew Niccol or at least the Hollywood executives at large.

There are many problems with The Host movie, but the worst offense is it was treated like Twilight by another name. It does share some elements of the franchise on the surface, such as a young woman being at the center of it and Wanda/Melanie are faced with a couple of love interests despite a supernatural situation. But the tone of The Host book was a lot more introspective and gripping than Bella’s story. It’s not as self-indulgent as Twilight is either. Melanie is dealing with the loss of her own life and the family she doesn’t want to lose because of Wanda’s allegiance to her alien race. The Host movie also lacked vision to make a complicated story about a woman trapped in an alien’s head work. It’s a tough premise to make pop on screen as it is, but the 2013 movie just made it all-out laughable.

Why It's Time To Give The Host Another Chance On The Page And On The Big Screen

Just because The Host did not get a fair chance to appeal to mainstream audiences through a film adaptation, that doesn’t mean Stephenie Meyer should give up on the franchise as a whole. Now more than ever, there’s an interest to revisit the author and alongside her aspirations to explore Twilight with two more books (or perhaps before), there’s still a fanbase for The Host trilogy that should be realized on the page. It's not an easy ask, especially considering how long it took for the author to finish up Midnight Sun to begin with.

On the film side of things, The Host has proven itself a difficult property to adapt, but with the right eye on the project it could be a worthy franchise to pursue as a trilogy. Not every book adaptation benefits from going page by page with the script and I believe that would be the case for The Host. While you’re reading a book you have the benefit of being inside the character's minds, but when there’s a voiceover speaking to a person and then reacting to it, it becomes incredibly awkward to view. I’d imagine if The Host focused on the Wanderer’s perspective instead, with Melanie haunting her mind being revealed over time and being experienced from the alien's perspective it could have been much more effective and get across the book's messages.

The truth is, the odds are truly against The Host until Stephenie Meyer choses to continue to pen the franchise. Midnight Sun could offer confidence in the writer to pursue more projects and attention to a new era for her would best be put to use (especially if she’s tired of Twilight) by going back to her imaginative sci-fi franchise.

What do you think? Have you been waiting for more from the Host? Vote in our poll below and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more movie news.

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Is your emo-phase-self pinching you yet? Stephenie Meyer’s long-awaited fifth Twilight book Midnight Sun is hitting shelves very soon. And for the first time in almost a decade, fans of the vampire romance will have a chance to come out of hiding and sparkle in the sunlight. Talk of the novel’s release dates all the way back to 2008 when a draft of the first twelve chapters of Edward’s POV of the Twilight story was leaked. The author initially cancelled the book way back when, but now she’s finally giving fans a deeper look into the story that began a cultural phenomenon.

Ahead of the book’s release this August, let’s sink our teeth into the aspects of Midnight Sun we are most curious for the book to answer after refreshing our memories of the events of Twilight. Here’s what we hope to see from the forthcoming novel:

Edward’s First Impressions Of Bella Swan

Midnight Sun is expected to retell the events of Twilight from Edward Cullen’s perspective instead of Bella’s, which means we’ll get to experience the story from the POV of an over-100-year-old vampire instead of a teen girl. One pivotal moment in the book was Bella’s first encounter with Edward in the cafeteria where Jessica introduces the Cullens to her from afar and she feels him watching him intently. Once she goes into her biology class, they become partners, but he is incredibly awkward around her and ends up storming off to switch classes.

Of course we find out later that Edward's behavior had to do with his struggle to read her mind and being pained by her incredible scent. But, we can’t wait to get a more detailed inner dialogue about Edward’s first interactions with Bella. Is it love at first sight? Or is he appalled by her?

All The Spicy Details Of Edward’s Mind Reads

Reading Twilight from Edward Cullen’s perspective is especially exciting because we’ll be inside the head of someone who can get into everyone’s head – except for Bella’s but we’ve read that already anyways. In the original book, Edward would always allude to hearing what this person and that person is thinking including Jessica, Bella’s dad Charlie or his adopted sister and fellow vampire Alice, who can see the future.

Midnight Sun will presumably allow fans to get all the juicy details about what those around Forks feel about Edward, Bella and the situations they find themselves in. We hope Stephenie Meyer really uses this device at her disposal in a clever way, whether it be through comedic means of what high schoolers really think about, to important plot details such as how the sick mind of James decides to hunt Bella or how his family feels about his constant mind reading.

More About The Cullens’ At-Home Life And Hunting Trips

Sorry to break it to you Bella, but your future vampire in-laws were always a lot more interesting than you were. Although the entire saga steadily gave fans more insight into what it’s like to be a vampire in Stephenie Meyer’s world, there’s nothing quite like learning from the perspective of one who has been maintaining the lifestyle for a long time. Much of Twilight revolves around the mystery about what Edward and his family is doing when Bella is not there.

Going into Midnight Sun, we want more details about the daily life of a Cullen in their home and when they go on those hunting trips. The upcoming novel has a real chance to really dive into the front and back of their lives as vampires in an intriguing way. For example, we know Jasper is a newer “vegetarian” in the clan. How are they training him and what inside discussions were had when Bella entered into the mix.

Tensions Between The Cullens And Quileute Tribe

Another intriguing dynamic in Twilight is the opposing clans of the Cullen family and Quileute Tribe, aka Team Edward versus Team Jacob. Now this relationship is obviously a massive part of the saga and has defined it in a lot of ways. But we never really get a sense of Edward’s thoughts on the whole thing exclusively from his perspective. The Quileute Tribe are not a significant part of the first book, but we hope Midnight Sun does fit in some elements of their tensions.

Midnight Sun is reportedly the final book in the Twilight series and we’d love to see more from the werewolf pack before the chapter is completely shut on this world. Perhaps while the Cullens are hunting they come into contact with some of the werewolves? Maybe Jacob and Edward’s ties run deeper than we think?

More Lore About The Cullen’s History As Vampires

Something else Midnight Sun could clear up more in depth is the Cullen Clan's past from a more firsthand perspective. As Bella notes in the original Twilight book, Edward may not be giving her the full story about him and his family’s history because part of him doesn’t want to completely scare her off. Midnight Sun could take us back through those moments where Edward tells Bella what happened and make it clear to us what he may be left out for later in order to protect her.

Midnight Sun could also talk through Edward’s own past more casually as he thinks back to his own unfiltered memories of his long life. In Twilight he is undoubtedly picking and choosing what to say to the girl he is falling in love with (hey, we all do it to some degree when getting to know someone). But how much so?

Edward’s True Thoughts About Turning Bella Into A Vampire

The last thing we’re curious to see in Midnight Sun is Edward Cullen’s thoughts regarding how to handle his budding love with Bella. When she is attacked by James, Edward has the option for a moment to allow her to become a vampire but he instead sucks the venom out and allows her to remain human. By the end of the book, Bella says she is ready to become a vampire at the high school prom but Edward refuses to allow her to. 

That’s cute and all, but does he really believe this or is he putting on a front in order to save her from his fate? We’re especially curious about Edward’s thought process on staying with her instead of moving out of Forks and how Midnight Sun itself will leave the characters. Will we get the same ending or will it expand on the story in a legitimate way?

What do you think? Will you be picking up a copy of Midnight Sun after we’ve laid out our biggest hopes for the upcoming novel? Vote in our poll below and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more Twilight coverage.

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You’d better hold tight spidermonkey! Twilight is coming back. It’s been almost a decade since the franchise starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart concluded with Breaking Dawn - Part 2 thus bringing closure to the Twilight-crazed era. The teen romance is now entering the conversation all over again thanks to a surprising announcement from the writer behind Edward and Bella’s story, Stephenie Meyer. This summer she will finally be releasing her fifth Twilight novel Midnight Sun.

It’s time to decode what we might expect from the coming release of Midnight Sun and how it could spawn another big screen adaptation. Here’s what to know:

The Story Behind The Long-Awaited Release Of Midnight Sun

For hardcore fans of the Twilight fandom, Midnight Sun is a familiar book title that brings back nostalgia for the height of the book series’ popularity. Back in 2008, it was in the works shortly after the release of her last Twilight novel Breaking Dawn and amidst Twilight’s debut in theaters. Twelve chapters of a draft of Midnight Sun was leaked online for tons of fans to peak at. Stephenie Meyer was in the middle of writing the book at the time and not happy it was put out into the public without her consent. She stalled her work on the fifth Twilight book and published a completed draft of the first 12 chapters on her website. Back in 2008, here’s what Meyer left things with Midnight Sun per EW:

Twelve years later and here we are: Midnight Sun was officially given a release date on August 4, 2020 following a mysterious countdown clock that had fans theorizing about Meyer’s plans. As the author explained in her announcement, she is not “the same person” she was then, since becoming a parent and the world changing. So there's a chance the Midnight Sun many fans read back in the day may not be the same material that was leaked.

Midnight Sun Is Twilight From Edward’s Perspective

Midnight Sun stands apart from the rest of the Twilight saga because it is not a continuation of the story told by Bella Swan – it’s Twilight again from the perspective of Edward Cullen. Instead of telling the story of a teen girl that moves from Arizona to Forks, Washington and gains curiosity for a vampire in her class, the events of the first book are given a shake up. From Edward’s eyes, he’s bored of being at yet another high school until he catches wind of Bella’s scent. Fans will get to be inside Edward’s head this time around as they meet each other and fall in love. This time the whole “discovery” montage Bella has to go through to get caught up with the audience is unnecessary.

Where was Edward during all those weeks where the Cullens’ disappeared on hunts? What was he thinking about during all those awkward first encounters with Bella at school? What’s it like in the brain of a mind-reading hundred-year-old vampire. This is the kind of bonus content fans will get answers to in Midnight Sun.

Midnight Sun Is More Vampire Lore Than Teen Romance

Since Midnight Sun is written from the perspective of Edward Cullen, Twilight becomes something quite different than what was originally written. At its heart, Twilight was a unique spin on the teen romance that explores feeling uncomfortable and a fish-out-of-water in high school. In Edward’s case, yes he feels different from his peers, but one would imagine the story is more about a hardened vampire who is just going through the motions, until Bella complicates his life.

The story is still a romance but since fans will be living inside Edward’s head for the duration of Midnight Sun, they will have access to much more vampire lore than Bella could have ever offered. While Bella Swan’s narration was a beginner’s guide to Meyer’s world of vampires, Midnight Sun could be a more advanced and complex look into the lore she has created for the franchise.

How Midnight Sun May Open The Door To A Future Twilight Remake

Is it too early to talk about a Midnight Sun movie? Maybe, but look at what happened to the coming Hunger Games prequel. Lionsgate has already signed a movie deal with Suzanne Collins for it to become a movie before it has even been released. Chances are for now Midnight Sun is a more of a book for the fandom after years without the entire fifth book. But what if the book flies off bookshelves and revitalizes the Twilight era? It would make it the optimal time for Summit to jump back into the property that made them $3.3 billion worldwide.

A Midnight Sun movie is possible, but it would act as something of a Twilight remake with a brand new cast portraying the teen characters since they are in their 30s now. It could be a clever way to approach a remake for the property because it would give fans more content than 2008’s Twilight could. Midnight Sun could be made completely from Edward’s perspective or it could switch between his and Bella’s POV. Considering all the information between the two books, it might work well as a TV mini series that swaps between their personal perspectives.

Could Any Of The Original Twilight Cast Return?

In the eight years since the Twilight saga has concluded, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have been able to carve out careers past the teen franchise that stand apart from their early work. Pattinson is just about to become the next Batman and star in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Stewart has made a ton of indie films and most recently was in Charlie’s Angels and Underwater. If Midnight Sun became a movie, they have a great excuse to not return because they are too old to play eternal teenagers, but maybe they could cameo or take on another part in the film? They could be a great Esme and Carlisle … or another pair of the actors from the original movies (like Jackson Rathbone and Nikki Reed) could take on those characters.

We’ll have to wait and see how it all unfolds. Midnight Sun hits bookshelves on August 4, 2020. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more news on your favorite film franchises.

It's rare enough to write a book and see it become a hit, and rarer still to see that book become a series of enormously successful movies. But for those movies to be so big that your name itself is enough to sell a film? That's about as exclusive a club as it gets for authors, and Stephenie Meyer is the latest inductee thanks to this weekend's release of The Host, the adaptation of her first novel written after the conclusion of the massive Twilight franchise.

Though The Host centers around a love triangle of sorts, and the main character is a remarkably self-possessed young woman fighting to be with the man who she loves, it's a pretty big transition from the vampire vs. werewolf dramatics of Twilight. Set in the distant future, when aliens called Souls have inhabited the bodies of nearly every human on earth, The Host stars Saoirse Ronan as Melanie, a human who's possessed by the Soul named Wanderer, but who hangs on to life long enough that Wanderer and Melanie eventually get to know each other. When Melanie leads them to the last hideout of the human resistance, Wanderer has trouble getting the humans to be comfortable around her-- but she also managed to strike a romance with Ian (Jake Abel), even while Melanie longs to be together again with Jared (Max Irons).

It's a tricky story, sure, but Meyer's proven already she has what it takes to spin out complex romances. I talked to her in Manhattan last week about her work as producer on The Host and how much more power she had compared to when she first started with the Twilight films, her own sci-fi influences, and how her Mormon faith has influenced story lines in both Twilight and The Host. Check out that and much more below.

You have been on the road with the cast for a long time, and I hear that a prank war has escalated. How long has it been?

Four weeks, five weeks. I don’t know. It was a really long time and so, to spice up the day, they would send these notes that actually were wads of chewed gum and then we would have people bring them bugs because Max has a bug fear, and so there were little things back and forth. The last thing Jake did is he had tweeted everyone to bring ping pong balls and give them to me at the signing, and so I ended up with hundreds and hundreds of ping pong balls everywhere. It was such a pain, but I kept them all in the box and that night at the screening, I gave them to the first three rows of the audience and then they pelted him with them. And he realized that you don’t want to arm me.

Seriously!

I think it’s died down.

You should just threaten to kill him off in the sequel.

I do that all of the time. I keep coming up with things like, “What if we take your arm off and you spend the whole time with a stump. I could make his life really miserable.

You have a lot of power in this situation.

I do.

You’re relishing it, clearly.

I mean, he always the power to say, “You know, I’m not going to do your movie,” and then we’re so screwed. So, there’s a balance.

You’ve been involved in the process with The Host since the very, very beginning, and you fought for Andrew Niccol to direct it. I’m curious how that compares to the way the first Twilight started.

Completely different. With the first Twilight, they were actually really nice. A lot of times authors sign their rights away and that’s the last they hear until they go and see the movie, probably on their own dime, most of the time. [Summit] let me look at the script when it was done. I gave a few notes. I don’t know that a lot of them were implemented, because it was kind of at a late stage. Most of the actors were picked before, and then they would tell me about it. I think a lot of the fans felt like, of course I would get to pick things and that my involvement was a lot more, because I got a lot of letters, like, “Why did you pick this,” and “How come we don’t have this in the movie?”

Oh, and I can name one thing they did change. They didn’t have Edward playing the piano in the final script and I said, “You know, everybody is waiting for that...for Bella’s lullaby. That’s the one I get the most commentary about that people are waiting to see,” and they did go back and put that in, which I thought was really, really lovely of them and it made the fans very happy.

But with The Host, it was the experience that I think people think you’re having, where I was involved with everything. Nick Wechsler was the producer, and it’s a very organic, common sense process, like, “Stephenie knows what everything should be like, so let’s see what she thinks about things.”

So, did he come to you and ask for the book rights?

It wasn’t even like, “I want to buy the book rights.” It was like, “I think we can make this movie together,” from the very beginning and I was like, “I don’t think this movie can be made, because honestly, the book is a conversation inside one person’s head. It’s just not visual.” And he said, “If we find the right person, they’ll have a way." To me it was like, “This is ridiculous. It’s never going to happen,” but he’s so positive, like, “We can make this happen.”

By the end of Twilight was your experience more similar to that, by the time Breaking Dawn came along?

It was more similar. I was more involved, definitely with the script phase, I got to put notes in much earlier. With the casting, I as much more involved, but we had our main cast, which is 90% of the movie. So, it was fun to get to pick these other, you know, be involved in getting Lee Pace, which was really cool, though the cut one of his big moments. I really hope it comes into the extras at some point. Working with all of those actors are some really fun people, but it’s not the same as saying our main character will be Saoirse Ronan, because that dictates everything. You know, and they did a really great job with the first Twilight, so it wasn’t a huge hardship not to have been involved in that, and we had the right actors, but it was really cool to be a part of that with The Host.

At one point, I think even before the book came out, you were imagining like Matt Damon or older actors for the male roles. You had this as older people in your head at one point?

I mean, consciously I knew I did want that separation from Twilight. I wish that didn’t affect things but of course, it does. So, I wanted to have it a little bit older than even they were in the novel. I feel like the character s in the novel are so aged by circumstance that it would be hard or someone who is 20 or 17 to portray that, but if you get the right actress...

Well the guys are a good bit older than she is, both of them.

They are, and they actually are really closes to the ages of the characters are in the book. They look so much more fresh-faced. I mean everyone in the book is this gritty survivor.

Obviously Invasion of the Body Snatchers comes into the inspiration for this, and you’ve talked about how you’ve always been more of an aliens person than a vampires person. I’m curious about what your other sci-fi big influences are.

Part of the first thing was Ray Bradbury. I loved his short stories. I think, Fahrenheit 451 was my first exposure to him and then I read everything I could get my hands on. And I was a bit Orson Scott Card fan, Anne McAffrey...I loved her when I was young. Pierce Anthony actually has some too that I guess you could call science fiction. A lot of things are right on that line between science fiction and fantasy and that’s really where my home is, those two worlds, much more so than horror.

And you’ve said that you’re not really interested in writing humans. I mean obviously you write humans but…

You know, I love reading humans. I love reading, you know Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. I love those stories, but I don’t know. I guess I just haven’t found a story that feels big enough with human. Anything that can actually happen just feels like it’s been done and so when you’re doing something that’s new and that’s not a world that’s ever been seen that same way before, it just feels more mine.

There are some really interesting essays out there by people writing from a Mormon perspective about the idea of free will in this. I’m curious if you see that, maybe not necessarily when you were writing it, but after the fact.

I haven’t seen that yet, but free will is always something that comes into my stories because it is something that I really have thought about a lot and it seems very, very important.

As a result of faith, or just in general?

I think both, because it’s something that I think about with religion and that I also think about separate from that, but it’s just a really important part of who we are and it’s part of even the Twilight novels. I’m so inspired by people you see, like a hundred kids who are from these horrible abusive families and a lot of them lead these horrible lives and continue this awful cycle, and then there’s this one person who just does it differently and succeeds and goes to college and becomes a professor or doctor and tells this story of success and you think, “Why does this one person stand up and say, I don’t have to be this. I can be something else.” Because my own childhood was fairly wonderful, you know, I had really great parents who cared a lot of me, I don’t know if I would be that strong and so I’m really inspired by people who do something different than what’s been prescribed for them for their life. And so that kind of side of free will has always really fascinated me.

Well, it also really ties in with Twilight and The Host. Bella knows what she wants and she sticks with it despite everyone else telling her otherwise. I think a lot of people see young girls and think the opposite, like we need to tell you what to do, we need to tell you what to be.

There are some kids who need direction--that’s not my personal experience, my kids don’t need direction. They know what they want and I knew what I wanted. When I was a kid, I had the same major plan for college from third grade through my graduation in college. I knew what I wanted and I always stuck on the path.

(Stephenie Meyer image via Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com)

With The Host headed into theaters next month, Stephenie Meyer fans have likely been wondering when we'll see the next novel from the author. The Host was published in 2008, almost five years ago. Anyone who's aware of Meyer's work knows she's had her hands full with the Twilight films. But with the vampire series and its adaptations wrapped up, does that mean she'll have more time to work on the sequel to The Host? Meyer's commented on that recently, while doing press for the anticipated feature adaptation of the book - or the first book, as she says she hopes that this will be a "three book arc."

The Host has Meyer moving away from vampires and over to aliens, telling a story set on earth after aliens have taken over the bodies of most of the human population. The book follows Wanderer, an alien "soul" who inhabits the body of one of a young woman named Melanie, who's part of the remaining human resistance up until she's captured, and who refuses to vacate her mind when Wanderer takes over. Veering a bit away from romance (though there is some of that), the story explores humanity, love and survival with a sci-fi twist.

When we spoke to Meyer last week, she told us she is working on a sequel to The Host, but - understandably so - finding the time to write the follow-up to her alien invasion story has been an issue, between the film and her other commitments, including her family, producing Austenland and the adaptation of Lois Duncan's Down a Dark Hall, she's got her hands full.

So, while it does sound like she'd love to sit down and get it finished by the summer (after which there'd be editing, possible rewrites and updates, which could prolong the process), that might be too soon to hope for.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press got their own update on the status of the sequel, or sequels as it could be. Meyer mentioned a possible plan for a trilogy when she spoke to them, saying:

So, if things go as Meyer hopes, there would be two more books to complete the story. Based on the first book alone, I'm actually not sure if I consider this the best news. I say this because I really liked The Host and I liked how it ended. To me, the semi-open-ended story left off with hope for mankind and the main characters. While it might be interesting to see what happens next, I don't actually feel like I need to. I might prefer a spin-off or another story set in that world that steps away from Melanie, Wanda and the rest of that group.

Of course, I'll happily eat my words if and when Meyer does get the next book published and it turns out to be great. It certainly sounds like she has ideas for her characters' futures. On a more positive side, The Host was a better story than Twilight, and a follow-up could give the author the opportunity to really expand and build on what she started in the first book. But if she announced that she was working on a new novel unrelated to The Host, or some kind of spin-off or prequel to The Host, I don't think I'd be especially disappointed.

In the meantime, I'm eager to see if The Host's feature adaptation lives up to the promising trailers. The film arrives in theaters March 29. More info, photos and videos here.

This poll is no longer available.

Following the release of the second theatrical trailer for The Host, author Stephenie Meyer spoke with the press today on a conference call to talk about the book and the film. Among the topics of discussion, Saoirse Ronan's otherworldliness, Meyer's future projects, including a sequel for The Host, how Hanna influenced her decision to go with Saoirse Ronan as the lead, and how the originally intended love triangle became a love square.

The Host is Meyer's non-Twilight novel, which trades vampires for aliens and focuses a bit less on romance and more on a story of survival, focusing on a young woman who is among what's left of the human resistance on earth after the world has been taken over by body-snatching aliens. Saoirse Ronan plays the lead character Melanie, who is captured and eventually occupied by an alien "Soul" called Wanderer ("Wanda"). Melanie refuses to abandon her own mind when Wanda takes over, which puts two characters into one body and two separate species eventually growing to understand one another.

In case you missed it, here's the new trailer.

Spoiler alert: The transcript from the press call with Meyer contains some spoilers from the book (at least one reference to the ending). So if you haven't read it, keep that in mind as you read on.

What's more fun, aliens or vampires?

Well they each obviously have their appeal. I don't know. Strictly fun - you can have a lot of fun with vampires. There's just a little bit more of a - I don't know what the right… I don't want to say goof factor because obviously they take themselves very seriously. But there's the whole super hero aspect. They have different abilities. They can run fast and lift heavy things. The aliens are limited to being very human. So I think, just purely on fun, probably vampires. But the aliens, to me, feel like a more realistic fantasy.

What do you think, in particular, will appeal to the Twilight fans about The Host?

I feel like, if they like my style of storytelling, that is still the same. The story is very different, but there's always going to be romance. I wrote it, so there's definitely some romantic scenes. But there's also some really stellar performances. You've got to see William Hurt as Jeb. It's just really awesome. And Saoirse - she's not a household name, probably because no one can read her name right now. They will though. She's unbelievable. Just to watch her get to do this great of a performance where she has to play two people and really run with that is worth the price of admission for sure.

Is there anyone from the movie - any of the actors - that pulled off the performance that you think is really closest to how you pictured the character when you wrote the book?

Yeah, all of them did a pretty great job. The top honors have to go to Saoirse, particularly for her portrayal of Wanda. I think Melanie was a little bit easier for her because she kind of relates to that girl, but Wanda's not even human. And wow, does she create this person, this entity. And it really did, for me, most encapsulate this character, who really could look like anyone. So the looks aren't such a big thing, but she just has that other-worldly persona, where she is just alien. It's amazing.

I was watching the Google Hangout that you did earlier. You mentioned a couple of things. One of them was that you were working on a new project. You didn't get into any specifics on that, only that you were trying to veer away from anything that involved eyes. And the other thing was the possible sequel to The Host. Can you talk a little bit about what you have in the works and when we might expect to see another book?

Yes, I'm working on the sequel to The Host. I have no idea when it will be done. And when I say it's done, then I still have to do the editing process, which can be extremely long. It's going really slowly right now and I have this Host tour coming up, which I know is gonna - I can't work on the road. I'm really awful about that, but I cannot get the focus I need when I'm not having large amounts of time. I mean, it's not being on the road, it's being interrupted every hour. So I don't know how long that's going to take. I would love to get that knocked out this summer, but that's extremely unlikely. I'd have to cryogenically freeze my children. And my husband. And if someone knows how to do that, call me.

As far as the other project I was talking about, that was Down a Dark Hall, which was my favorite Lois Duncan novel as a child, that we optioned a while back. We're working on the script. It came up, just a little thing with a special effects on the eyes, and I'm like, "Nope, no eyes. Can't do it."

Since you've had such success, does it change your writing process to know that anything you write can potentially become a film?

You know, it changes my writing process more with the idea that what I write, someone's going to read, and that actually really slows me down. I did a lot better job writing quickly when I could lie to myself and say, "Well no one's ever going to see this but me." That's a very helpful tool for me. If I could convince myself that that was the case, I think I would be able to do it more quickly. But I second guess myself a lot, knowing that people are going to see things. As far as the movie element. I don't think that it affects me so much - Every now and then, it is true that I've kicked around the idea, I have this novel way on the back burner. I mean, it will be forever until I can get to it. But I like the idea of it because it's impossible to film. I just don't think you can do it. That actually does make it kind of intriguing. You couldn't do this [story] as a film. I guess there's something freeing about that.

What's the biggest change you've gone through as an author when you look back at things you've written and think, I wouldn't write that this way, now.

I hope I'm better. [laughs] I hope that I've gotten stronger as a writer. I look back at things and when I reread my stuff, I always find so many things that I would do differently. It's not so much in the story, but just in the way that I say it. There's words, I'm like, "Oh, I wish I wouldn't have put it that way. I wish I had taken that sentence out." It's really easy for me to second guess myself. That's one of the problems of knowing people are going to read your stuff. Once it's printed, you don't get to make changes anymore. For some of my other author friends that I've spoken to, that's a hard thing for a lot of them. Once it's out of your hands, then all of a sudden it's written in stone. You can't make those changes you still long to make. It's very, very hard.

Are there going to be any major changes from the book to the movie?

The major change is that we just had to cut out 500 pages, basically, of the novel. And so, it's definitely streamlined down to the essential relationships of the core story. Aside from that, I feel like it gives a very true vision of the world. The characters that are the main characters are very much translated into themselves. I don't feel like they've transformed into someone else.

Visually, I think it's actually a little heightened. Because in my version of the story, there wasn't that much of a change on the planet earth. It still looked a lot the same. But Andrew is such an incredibly visual person, and a genius. And so he came into it and made the Soul world just a little bit different from how the humans are. People dress nicer. They're cleaner, Everyone's a little bit shinier. There's a slightly different feel. It's still obviously planet earth, but not quite the place you can walk into and fell like you're a part of. And I thought that was brilliant. I really loved it.

Can you tell us why you chose to take on aliens?

Aliens are much more my roots than vampires, for sure. I grew up reading science fiction and fantasy. I never really read horror. Before I wrote Twilight, I never read a book with a vampire in it. So that was very… not my realm. Whereas aliens, I feel totally comfortable with. I love aliens. I've always been drawn to alien movies and alien stories. I love that. So for me, that's just a place I like to hang out.

You touched on this briefly before. You have some wonderful veteran powerhouse actors in this film, such as William Hurt playing Uncle Jeb and Frances Fisher playing Maggie. Can you talk about what they bring to the movie?

So much. Oh my gosh. It's really amazing. Frances Fisher has a smaller role than William Hurt, but she's really fantastic in everything she does. But William has a meatier role, and he gets to the thoughtful center of the movie. He's the person who's been around the longest and seen the most and comes up with his own philosophy on life. Every time he's in a scene, it's like "Ahh" angel lights descending on it. It's amazing. I think people are just going to adore him as Jeb. I think that might be the most true to the novel, looks, the sound of his voice, the way he does things. I think people are going to be like, "Yes, there's no one else who could ever do this but him.

On the other end of the scale, aside from veteran actors, you have a very young actor, Chandler Canterbury. You recently, in Twilight were working with another young actor, Mackenzie Foy. And now you have Chandler in this, who has another key role. Can you talk about what this young performer brings to the film?

He's fantastic. We've been so lucky. You know what they say, never work with children or animals. We keep doing that, but both of those two young actors - who have actually worked together before - we ended up getting these little adults who are very serious about their craft, who completely understand what they're doing. It's not the situation with the stage parents, these are kids who genuinely love acting and really enjoy it. And Chandler, he's adorable, but he's also really, really gifted. You just buy him and his feelings. They're there. And there's this scene with him and Wanda, and just the relationship between them feels so real. I remember, Andrew was just amazed. He was crying in this scene, and he's like, "It's like that kid can actually control his teardrops and make them stop on his cheek at the perfect spot." He's extremely talented and it's wonderful to have. In this post-apocalyptic world, where everything's very serious, to have a child, it puts everything into perspective. For me, as a mom, it makes you take their situation so much more seriously, when you see a child suffering in this world that they live in now. So I'm really grateful that we found someone and that he wanted to do it, because he's amazing to have.

What characteristics did Saoirse embody as an actress that you felt was perfect for the leading role?

The main thing is that she is one of the most amazing actors I've ever had the privilege to watch, let alone work with. We knew that with this role, it's very complicated. And without someone who could just transform themselves into both of these characters and be super believable, it wasn't going to work. We had to have an amazing actress. So that was the main thing, which was finding an actress who was that good. Then, when you get past that, her abilities that are special to her - one, is that she is so ethereal. She's such a down to earth kid when you know her, but if you see a photograph of her on a red carpet, it's like she's from another planet already. She's just this beam of light. She's amazing. That worked out so well, that otherworldly part of her, to play an alien, a very peaceful alien from an advanced civilization, it's very believable. Because she is just different. She's not quite like us.

And then, she also has the ability to play such a fierce survivor. If you've seen her in Hanna, you know what I'm talking about. And that, actually, was the movie that the other producers got me to watch. Because my first instinct when they said Saoirse Ronan, I was like, "Too young. I don't want to do this teenage triangle again. It's going to be too much of a Twilight thing…" I was kind of an absolute no, she's fantastic, but no. And they said, "Go see her in Hanna," and so I very begrudgingly did. And I was sure my mind was not going to change. And I was on the phone with them before the credits were done rolling. I was like, "Ok, ok. Sign her up. If she's willing to do it, do anything we have to do to get her." [laughs] She's amazing. I truly believe she can do anything. I can't wait to see what she does next because she is so phenomenal.

The underlying kind of message in your stories really have to do with love. Can you talk a little bit about what message you want the audience to receive with The Host?

I never purposely put messages in my stories. I'm just always trying to entertain myself and then afterwards I'm like, "Ok, maybe that's what I was thinking." But with this one, if feels like it's very much about love, but not romantic love. Definitely, romantic love is a part of it, but the full spectrum of love. You kind of get to explore the love you have with your people and the place where you belong and how that changes when you find a new place.

There's a betrayal aspect to this. The main character is a truly good person who has to betray other really good people and that's a big deal. And there's also the mother love that she has for this other person's brother that she feels really tied to. And being able to work some of those themes of motherhood in. Because that's so much a part of my life, it felt important. And then you also have sister love, which isn't something I've gotten to do much with.And I have two sisters that I'm very close to. Her relationship with Melanie starts out very antagonistic, becomes the most defining relationship of her life. She's willing to sacrifice everything to give life back to a girl who becomes her sister. It feels like a spectrum of love and you get to explore so many more angles than you do if you're just doing a romance.

Aside from the Cheetos eating scene hitting the cutting room floor, what couldn't make it in that you found the most gut-wrenching as the writer?

Some of the characters - Walter doesn't exist in this story. And that's what my mom gives me the most grief over, because she loves Walter. He was hard to lose. A lot of the minor characters - some of them appear in the movies but don't even get to be named. It's really hard because so many of these little side stories, playing soccer, to me, they mean a lot because it's these pieces of real life. And we couldn't have the playing soccer scene in the movie, which is a little minor tragedy like it always is when you adapt. You lose this thing that you really would have loved to see. But in the end, there's a level of realism that you have to get to when you have a 600 page book to adapt. You know you're going to loose 5/6 of what you've done. And then it's just, what are the most important things. And I think that Andrew did a really Stellar job of nailing that. He got the really important things. The core and heart of the story are there, and all of the elements that are in the movie from the book are very true to the book, so it feels familiar and right.

You could have set this alien invasion tale anywhere, what made you want to set it in Louisiana and the desert in Arizona?

It was never set in Louisiana in the novel. That was something we did in the movie that ended up being a really good choice. Louisiana is the place to shoot these days. They've got the facilities and it just makes the most sense on your budget, generally. We could have. That part of the story takes place, some of it in San Diego and some of it in the southwest. We decided to embrace the location, rather than trying to hide it and pretend that we were somewhere else. And it ended up being fantastic, because we were able to really celebrate the unique, beautiful things about that area. And then we shot the desert part in New Mexico. We got some really stunning locales. We were really fortunate, it's so beautiful.

The things I chose in the novel, when I wrote my other series, a lot of it was about fantasy for me. So I wrote that I'd actually never been to. I'd always wanted to grow up in Washington. I thought that'd be great. The rain and green, they have stream beds that have water in them instead of them being full of rocks. I was always fascinated with that world because I grew up in the desert and that was my home and that's what I was used to. When I wrote The Host, it is about my home in a lot of ways. It's a place that I know and that I'm comfortable in. The story is closer to home for me because it is my genre. I like science fiction. That's my favorite world. So I also set it in my physical world that I live in. It felt like the right thing to do and in some ways it's more personal for me.

There's a very unique love triangle in the story. Almost like a love square. Can you talk a little bit about where you came up with the idea to add in that fourth element?

The love triangle was actually the beginning thought that lead to the novel. It was the idea of two people in one body in love with the same person. A jealous triangle where you could not escape the other person. You couldn't separate yourself from them. Turning it into what Jake Abel calls the "love box" instead of the love triangle really came about because of his character. When I originally outlining the story, and first working on it, I had pictured a bittersweet end to it where Wanda's still in love with Jared but she's doing the right thing for her family and how things should be done and she's sort of living in this sacrifice, which would have been great. I probably should have written it that way but I have this happy ending problem.

The character of Ian was not supposed to be a main character or have anything to do with romance in the story. But, I just couldn't… he was supposed to be the bad guy but the character kept thinking about, "But why is it fair to treat her this way? She hasn't done anything to us personally?" He just matured a lot and kept asking questions, which doesn't make a lot of sense, except to other writers. They know how these characters kind of come alive and don't always do the thing you want them to do. So the character became interested in Wanda as a person. And because she's such a good person, it was kind of inevitable that he would fall in love with her. So that just sort of happened in the course of the writing. I really do love the characters that develop themselves almost separately from you. I don't have to do any work with them, they're very easy. That's how it ended up being a love box. Because Ian was a thinker.

The Host arrives in theaters March 29, 2013. More information, photos and videos from the film can be found in our Blend Film Database.

Those who are greatly anticipating the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's The Host have only to wait until March of next year to see how the story will look on the big screen. In the meantime, some behind the scenes footage of the film has made its way online, giving us a look at the set for the film and some of the stunts performed.

(Vague story spoilers ahead!)

Based on a novel by Twilight's Stephenie Meyer, The Host takes place on earth after aliens have invaded the planet and taken over the bodies of most of its inhabitants. In the film, Saoirse Ronan plays Melanie Stryder, a human whose body and mind is inhabited by an alien called Wanderer, who wants to use Melanie as a way to find other uninhabited humans. Ronan is featured in MTV's video below, as well as Max Irons, who plays Melanie's boyfriend Jared.

Ronan comments on the stunts for the film, which we're given a glimpse of in the above video as she jumps from a balcony while strapped to a harness.

We also got a look at what appeared to be Melanie/Wanderer on the run from the Seeker (Diane Kruger), and a scene featuring Irons' Jared as he talks to "Wanda" about wanting to kiss Melanie. It's understandable that Jared might have confused feelings toward the alien who's now wearing his girlfriend's body.

Since a lot of the footage shown moves by fast, we grabbed some screenshots to save you the effort of frequent pausing.

The Host arrives in theaters March 29, 2013. More information and photos can be found in our Blend Film Database.

Earlier this month we shared a photo from the upcoming Andrew Niccol directed adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s alien invasion novel The Host. The picture, which featured star Saoirse Ronan offered a good look at her eyes, and in particular, the glowing ring around the pupil, which in the story, indicates that the person has been occupied by one of the invading aliens, called Souls. The first teaser poster for the film has made its way online, and much like the photo, and the cover of Meyer’s novel, the emphasis is on the eye.

MTV got the exclusive on the poster, which they shared in addition to word that they’re headed to the super-secret location of the set of the film to get some behind-the-scenes info on the making of the movie.

Below is the poster, which draws our attention right to the glowing eye...

Ronan’s name isn’t mentioned, nor are any of the other stars, but the words “Stephenie Meyer” and “Twilight” are there at the top. And near the bottom, the creepy tagline, “You will be one of us.” The glow to the “O” in Host is a nice touch, as is the glowing zero in the film’s release date (March 29, 2013).

?More information on The Host, including pictures and the teaser trailer, can be found in our Blend Film Database.

While the hype for the second part of the big screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s final Twilight book Breaking Dawn continues to wind up, things are just getting going for the author’s non-Twilight novel, which is headed into theaters next year. Last week, a new teaser trailer for The Host released, and now we have some photos to tack onto that, which include Saoirse Ronan and Max Irons.

While Twilight plays heavily on romance with the story of a teen and a vampire, The Host stands out, and arguably above the author’s popular series not only for its intriguing post-alien-apocalyptic setting, but for the relationship formed between the lead character, human Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) and the alien being (or “soul”) that inhabits her body, Wanderer.

The photos below give us a look at Ronan as Melanie, and her love interest Jared (Irons). We also get a peek at Diane Kruger, who plays the determined Seeker, the soul-inhabited woman responsible for keeping tabs on Wanderer.

(Click on the photos to see the high-res versions)

The blank stare is fittingly creepy, and it looks like she’s getting the eye-check in one of the above photos.

There’s really a lot of potential for this film. Sure, it’s likely to draw much of the Twilight crowd, making The Host about as mainstream as sci-fi can get, and fans of classic alien-invasion stories may scoff at what they might consider to be the Twilightization of another genre. That would probably be unfairly generalizing it, though. Meyer has a decent story here and one that should work well for a film adaptation. Saoirse Ronan playing Melanie is an added bonus.

Check out the teaser trailer for the film here. The Host arrives in theaters March 29, 2013. More information on the film can be found in our Blend Film Database.

What’s this? Non-Oscar news? Well, sure. The rest of the industry might be sleeping off its hangover, but we’re busy prepping for the next big movies coming down the pipeline. With the Twilight Saga winding down, teen lit fanatics are looking down the road to The Host, director Andrew Niccol’s adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling sci-fi novel which continues to add cast members ahead of a soon-to-begin shoot.

Deadline says Frances Fisher is the latest name added by Niccol to his growing ensemble. The Titanic co-star -- who’s also know for roles in Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven and Matthew McConaughey’s The Lincoln Lawyer -- joins Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger and Jake Abel in the futuristic thriller. Fisher has been tapped to play Maggie, a character the site describes as “a stern aunt to Melanie (Ronan) and sister to Uncle Jeb (William Hurt) … (who) are among the few human survivors of a parasitic alien species called the Souls which have plagued Earth.”

It’s hard to know what to expect of The Host. Because it comes from Meyer, I’m sure Open Road Films would love to see it make a fraction of the Saga’s box office. But that’s likely unrealistic. It might even have a hard time keeping pace with The Hunger Games, which is shaping up to be a massive hit. We’ll know more once Niccol begins filming, which will happen soon. Principal photography is scheduled to begin in March in Louisiana and New Mexico. And The Host is on track for a March 29, 2013 release date.

While The Twilight Saga will wrap up this year with the second part of Breaking Dawn hitting theaters this November, Stephenie Meyer fans will get to see the writer’s non-vampire book The Host make its way onto the big screen next year. One of those fans may also get to see their face in a teaser trailer for the film.

(Vague spoiler warning here regarding the plot of the book)

The Host follows a young woman living in a world that’s been invaded by aliens who have inhabited the planet by taking over the minds and bodies of people. The story is told through the mind of Melanie (Saoirse Ronan), a human attempting to maintain control over her mind, and Wanderer, the ‘soul” who has set up shop there.

While there are romantic elements in the book, the story probably leans a bit more toward young-adult sci-fi than it does romance, at least by comparison to Twilight. It touches on some fairly interesting elements in exploring humanity from an outside perspective, as well as a shared-mind/body perspective. Melanie and Wanderer aren’t exactly Mr. Grey and Jonesy (Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher) in terms of the depth and darkness of the story but Meyer does get creative in shaping a young adult story around a post-alien-apocalyptic world. Unlike Twilight, in which the story is mainly focused on Edward and Bella’s romance, The Host is driven by love, but is ultimately about survival. It should be interesting to see how writer/director Andrew Niccol brings the story to life.

In the meantime, in what’s likely to be an effort to rally fans, the Facebook page for The Host has a contest set up offering fans the opportunity to submit their picture for a chance to be featured in the teaser trailer for the film. The page is very specific on what they’re looking for from the photo, so be sure to read the rules before you submit your photo. The photo requirements are included right on the entry page, and you can read the more official rules here.

The Host is set for a March 29, 2013 release date. In addition to Ronan, the cast includes Jake Abel, Max Irons, William Hurt, Diane Kruger, Chandler Canterbury, and Boyd Holbrook. More information on The Host can be found in our Blend Film Database.

The Twilight saga may be drawing to a close, but Hollywood’s love affair with Stephenie Meyer’s “prose” is just beginning. With word that the merged Lionsgate-Summit powerhouse intends to explore further Twilight adventures on the small screen, casting continues on Andrew Niccol’s adaptation of Meyer’s other novel, The Host.

Inglourious Basterds star Diane Kruger is circling the pivotal role of The Seeker, according to Deadline. In Meyer’s science-fiction story, an alien race known as The Souls have taken over the human race. The Seeker agrees to watch over Melanie, a warrior soul (played by Hanna star Saoirse Ronan) who has been taken over by Wanderer, a force that has survived the Soul invasion but is overwhelmed by Melanie’s former memories – which shouldn’t exist.

Remember when Meyer dealt only with chaste vampires and sexually frustrated werewolves? Man, those were simpler times. I think it’s safe to assume that Meyer’s audience will follow her from Twilight to The Host, no matter who ultimately is cast in Niccol’s finished film.

But adding legitimate talents like Ronan and Kruger helps to ensure that The Host won’t be as painful for non-Meyer converts. And while The Host sounds like the umpteenth take on the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers fable, Niccol wrote The Truman Show and directed the underrated In Time with Justin Timberlake, so he has the ability to spin a conventional plotline in unexpected directions. Let’s hope he’s the collaborator Meyer and her army have been hoping for.

It seems likely to happen when Saoirse Ronan first signed on to star last week, and now it's for sure: Andrew Niccol will direct The Host, the adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's non-Twilight book currently being shopped at Cannes. Niccol adapted the screenplay and was personally chosen as a director by Meyer, but turned things upside down a bit when he left the production to direct the thriller Now, which hits theaters this October. According to Deadline the producers repeatedly tried to find someone else but it never worked out, and now they're back to Niccol, the guy they wanted all along.

Now I guess it's time to build a cast around Ronan, who's got a serious job ahead of her playing both human Melanie and alien invader Wanderer; in this version of the War of the Worlds story the infiltrating aliens actually take over the brains of human hosts, but Melanie is particularly resilient and winds up sharing her body with Wanderer, in what sounds like a strange Siamese Twin setup. Wanderer winds up tracking down the people in Melanie's life, who are resisting the alien arrival, and even falling for Melanie's boyfriend-- yes, we've got another Stephenie Meyer love triangle on our hands. Expect an exhausting series of rumors about who will play the love interest for this, and for Liam Hemsworth to inevitably be cast anyway-- because seriously, that guy is everywhere.