‘Hold on tight, spider monkey’ — ‘Twilight’ series is officially announced
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Editor’s note: This article was originally published on April 19, 2023. It has been updated.
“‘Twilight again,’ he murmured.” Although Edward Cullen was bemoaning the end of prom night with Bella Swan, the quote is relevant now because Twilight is coming back again.
That’s right. Over a decade after the first movie was released by Lionsgate Productions, Swan and Cullen are returning, but this time in a television series.
In 2017, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer indicated he was interested in getting together a writers’ room to discuss the possibility of more Twilight content. Variety reported, “He implied, however, that the company will only go forward with fresh installments or spinoffs in the blockbuster series if they get the sign off from “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer.”
Now might be the moment that it comes together.
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‘Twilight’ series plot and release date
Book author Stephanie Meyer is said to be involved in the production, per The Hollywood Reporter. Not much is known about the series at this point — it could be a spinoff or it could be heavily based on Meyer’s books. Sinead Daly, producer for “The Walking Dead,” is expected to be writing the script.
There isn’t a timeline yet for the project, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It’s not yet known which streaming platform the series will be on or when the project will come out. A cast is not yet known either.
What’s the ‘Twilight’ series about?
The Twilight series is compromised of “Twilight,” “New Moon,” “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn.” Bella Swan moves from sunny Florida to rainy Forks, Washington, to live with her dad Charlie and finish high school. Swan soon meets Edward Cullen and “the Cullen clan” — a group of sparkling, dazzlingly beautiful people who are covertly “vegetarian” vampires.
“What did you expect? Coffins and dungeons and moats?” Cullen asked Swan as he dispelled some of the cultural stereotypes around vampires.
Soon Swan discovers she’s “unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.” Another potential love interest comes up, Jacob Black. He introduced himself, “Hi, I’m Jacob. We used to make mud pies when we were little.” He’s a part of a group of werewolves. Werewolves and vampires are sworn enemies in the series.
As notorious wallflower (who is portrayed as one of the most beautiful people attending Forks High) Swan steps into the world of the supernatural, she faces danger from other characters and her relationship with Cullen is tested to its limits. Throughout the series, she has to decide whether she wants to be with Edward or with Jacob and whether or not she wants to become a vampire.
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When was ‘Twilight’ first released?
The books
“Twilight” was released on Oct. 5, 2005.
“New Moon” was released on Aug. 21, 2006.
“Eclipse” was released on Aug. 7, 2007.
“Breaking Dawn” was released on Aug. 2, 2008.
The movies
“Twilight” was released on Nov. 21, 2008.
“New Moon” was released on Nov. 20, 2009.
“Eclipse” was released on June 30, 2010.
“Breaking Dawn — Part 1” was released on Nov. 18, 2011.
“Breaking Dawn — Part 2” was released on Nov. 16, 2012.
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Was ‘Twilight’ successful?
The “Twilight” series ended up grossing over $3 billion at the box office. According to Box Office Mojo, the highest grossing film in the series is “Eclipse.”
“Twilight” ended up being a successful series and has become the standard for vampire movies. There are many reasons why the series has endured and is still popular.
The film has brought business to Forks, Washington. According to The Seattle Times, “For many, before its “Twilight” fame, Forks was but a pit stop visited en route to Olympic National Park, but tourism exploded after the “Twilight” movie premiered in 2008. In 2007, Forks had just over 10,000 visitors. In 2009, that figure rose to 70,000.” By 2020, tourism slowed down, but hasn’t stopped entirely.
For one, the movies were made so close to the release of the books. The movies were able to capture the exact audience who was loyal to the books, which likely is a reason why the series endured.
It was a cultural moment and a young adult romance series especially popular among high school girls. Since the movies came out so quickly, the movies capitalized on the already existing debates such as Team Edward versus Team Jacob.
The first movie was a true blue indie film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke. The first movie was slightly campy, but it charmed much of the audience who had already been won over by Meyer’s books. Collider compiled a list of “cringey yet charming” quotes from the movie and “cringey yet charming” is a pretty apt description of the movie. Throughout the series, there are cringey lines like this one from Bella: “Nessie? You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?”
Then later, the “Twilight” fandom morphed into something else — it entered meme culture.
Nostalgia fueled memes of the series. Parodies, videos and memes of the series hit hundreds of millions of views, according to Insider. “Now, more than a decade later, the tag #twilight has surpassed 10 billion views on TikTok, while #twilightmemes is approaching 45 million views and #twilightrenaissance has racked up over 400 million views.”
It’s unclear how “Twilight” will adapt for the modern age.
Where is Twilight streaming 2023?
The Twilight movies are available for streaming on Hulu.
