More than a decade after the last Twilight film hit theaters and wrapped up Bella Swan and Edward Cullen’s love story, fans are set to travel back to Forks, Washington! Netflix announced Wednesday that it has given a straight-to-series to Midnight Sun, an animated series based on author Stephanie Meyer’s novel of the same name. According to the streamer, the series is “officially in development.”
At this time, plot details of the project are scarce. Midnight Sun is a retelling of Myer’s original 2005 novel from Edward’s perspective. Twilight was told from Bella’s perspective as she moved from Phoenix, Arizona to live with her father in the small town of Forks, where she falls for a mysterious, handsome boy named Edward, later discovering that he is a vampire. That novel, of course, went on to spawn a four-novel book series and a five-film franchise. It’s unclear if any cast members from the film series, including Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, will reprise their roles for the Netflix show.
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The project will be written by Sinead Daly, who will serve as executive producer, per Deadline. Meyer and Meghan Hibbett for Fickle Fish Films. Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen executive produce for Temple Hill Entertainment, which produced the Twilight movies. Erik Feig and Samie Kim Falve of Picturestart also executive produce. Emily Wissink is overseeing for Picturestart.
Netflix’s Wednesday announcement comes after the series had been in the works for more than a year. The project was first reported to be in early development at studio Lionsgate Television in April 2023. At the time, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Lionsgate Television “plans to lead the development on the project before shopping the rights to the package.” Addressing the series during a Q&A at the Morgan Stanley media conference in March, Michael Burns, vice chairman of Lionsgate, teased that it would be an animated series, sharing, “We’re going to go out with the Twilight series, an animated series, I think there’ll be a lot of interest in that.”
Midnight Sun will mark the latest installment in the Twilight franchise. Meyer’s novels were published between 2005 and 2008, with The Twilight Saga film franchise debuting in 2008 with Twilight. Four additional movies followed – The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011), and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012). In addition to making household names out of Pattinson, Stewart, and Taylor Lautner, the franchise grossed over $3 billion at the global box office.
