Whereas the present’s present standing stays in an unknown state, a number of unique Twilight Saga actors affirm they will not be returning for Netflix’s Midnight Solar. The sequence is about to function an adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s 2020 novel of the identical title, which takes an alternate path to the unique Twilight guide and retells its occasions via the lens of Edward Cullen.
After talks started swirling in early 2023 that Lionsgate had been trying to revive the franchise in some trend, it was formally introduced that Midnight Solar had been given a straight-to-series order at Netflix in September 2024, with Inform Me Lies alum Sinead Daly serving as author and government producer on the animated adaptation. Within the yr since, no official updates have come out concerning the present’s progress, whereas numerous franchise solid members have shared their opinions on the brand new Twilight incarnation.
Now, throughout the ScreenRant-hosted Q&A panel for Twilight moderated by Joe Deckelmeier at Motor Metropolis Comedian Con, stars Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Kellan Lutz and Jackson Rathbone have addressed Midnight Solar‘s growth. Earlier than correctly diving into their ideas on the sequence, Greene was fast to verify “we’re not” coming again as Cullen relations Carlisle, Jasper, Alice and Emmett, with Facinelli happening to chuckle as he shared the group did ask “Can we do it?“, just for the streamer’s artistic workforce to say no:
Peter Facinelli: Properly, here is the reality, I am bummed, as a result of I really like that character a lot, so I hate the concept of getting another person play it. But in addition, that film, to me, like so many individuals, if you happen to watch that film, it takes you again to a time. There is a nostalgia to it. It takes you again to a time while you had been watching it together with your mother, or watching it with your mates, while you had been watching it within the film theaters. I really feel like there’s part of rising up that individuals expertise over the past 25 years, 20 years, you recognize, with these motion pictures.
With that feeling of nostalgia primarily backing Netflix’s help for the brand new Twilight sequence, Facinelli went on to opine that the present “does not have the identical connection to the older motion pictures that everyone loves” with out he and the group, together with the remainder of the flicks’ solid, reprising their roles. He did, nevertheless, nonetheless provide them a vote of help, expressing that he is “certain it will be nice in its personal proper“, albeit as a result of it will be completely different, he does not “know what recommendation I might provide them to get it proper“.
Rathbone went on to disclose the “humorous” method through which he and his co-stars realized concerning the present’s existence, with followers initially telling them of the animated Midnight Solar‘s growth, to which they shrugged it off as, “No, there’s not“. As a substitute, they went on to find whereas attending a conference and interacting with an actress — who he stated, “I am not gonna say” their title — revealed that they auditioned for the present, leaving him flabbergasted and asking to see the script sides she was given.
Rathbone acknowledged that “it is an inevitability that they are gonna reboot“, and that he and his co-stars “usually are not foolish“. Nevertheless, from there, he contacted his agent to see about the opportunity of asking to return again as his Twilight character, then turning to Facinelli, Greene and Lutz to provide you with a plan for a way greatest to supply their voices to the present:
Jackson Rathbone: We had been like, “Hey, it might be sort of cool, we’re nonetheless fairly recent out of it. It isn’t that far. Our voices have not modified that a lot. Let’s go forward and allow them to know, as a bunch, collectively, we might love to return again and do it the fitting manner.” Nobody requested for some huge cash, belief me. [Laughs] We’re at all times coming again as a result of we love y’all, man, we needed to do it for the followers. We love our characters. And so they very properly stated, “No.” We could not even get an audition for it, which is humorous.
Lutz bounced off of Rathbone’s be aware about their voices to level out Midnight Solar goes to be an animated sequence, due to this fact eliminating any potential considerations of the actors having aged out of their roles. Greene concurred as she exclaimed, “We nonetheless sound so younger!“, although she did nonetheless communicate for the group in expressing that “whoever takes on the position, we want them the very best” and that the fabric offers them “one thing that resonates in one thing that they love“.
Even nonetheless, she did denote her concern about it being “so exhausting” to recapture the success of the unique motion pictures, declaring how “individuals attempt to replicate what Twilight did on a regular basis, and a whole lot of occasions it fails“. Describing there being “some secret sauce” that the workforce behind the unique movies present in adapting Meyer’s novels, Greene did share a curiosity as as to if “they’re in a position to translate that into an animation or not“.
As for Facinelli, he discovered himself equating the expertise to Christmas 2024, through which he downloaded an animated model of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas to point out his three-year-old son, as he “needed to expertise” his kid’s surprise the identical manner he had rising up with the movie. Nevertheless, what he got here to search out was “it was the fallacious one” when beginning the movie, having as an alternative downloaded the Benedict Cumberbatch-led 2018 model, clarifying he has no qualms with the two-time Oscar nominee, however extra so simply “is not the model that I grew up with“:
Peter Facinelli: It felt like nails on chalkboard to me. And I am certain my son beloved it. He is three, and can love all the pieces. However to me, I grew up with this factor, and I needed to have that, as a result of it is a consolation to me, in order that’s how I sort of equate it. However I am certain different individuals will discover this, if there is a new factor, they usually’ll love the brand new factor, so it will simply be completely different.
The previous Cullen household actors aren’t the one ones who’ve confirmed they will not be again for the upcoming Midnight Solar sequence. Each Chaske Spencer and Gil Birmingham, who performed La Push Alpha Sam and Quileute tribe elder Billy Black within the unique Twilight motion pictures, had been equally stunned to study via interviews and fan interactions of the present’s existence, with the previous confirming he will not be again, whereas the latter did not explicitly reply by some means.
To the group’s level, their voices have not essentially modified so dramatically to the purpose of requiring a recast. Netflix has already discovered success with bringing again a complete solid of actors into an animated retelling of a previous live-action film with Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the anime twist on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel and Edgar Wright’s movie of the identical title. Even with there being 13 years between the movie and sequence, the complete solid was nonetheless invited again.
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Nevertheless, extra than simply the considered their voices having probably aged, the extra possible cause why Midnight Solar goes in a brand new path with its solid is for the monetary causes of bringing everybody again. Each Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have exploded in recognition within the years since Twilight that their returns would require an excellent paycheck, not to mention the remainder of the solid. Mixed with paying the animation studio, and laying the groundwork for future seasons, Netflix is probably going aiming for his or her Twilight reboot to be a correct slate cleansing.