This 'Twilight' Director Says Jenna Ortega and Jacob Elordi Would Be "Perfect" in a Series Reboot

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Things I didn't have on my 2023 Bingo card: Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke gushing that Jenna Ortega and Jacob Elordi would make a “perfect” Bella Swan and Edward Cullen together. (Pls, I'm b-e-g-g-i-n-g you to tell me that this doesn't read like a Mad Libs line!)

During a watch-a-long with Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, Hardwicke gave the two actors her stamp of approval when the host noted that they might kinda sorta be a good pairing to portray the franchise’s romantic leads.

“Is there anyone in the new crop today? Like who do you cast? Is Jacob Elordi Edward Cullen today?” Horowitz asked the director. “Is Jenna Ortega…” And before he could even finish, Hardwicke immediately quipped with, “Oh yeah, that would be perfect,” before asking the host whether he had watched Jacob's latest film, Saltburn.

Watch Saltburn in theatres now!

“I mean, he’s amazing. He probably would be Edward today. Exactly,” she added. However, the director also took a sec to praise the Wednesday lead, who has totally reached A-lister status over the past year. “I mean, of course, you just mentioned Jenna Ortega,” she noted, adding that the actor is “amazing.”

The director also discussed the future of the iconic franchise—which is based on Stephenie Meyer’s novels of the same name—given the recent-ish news that a Twilight series is reportedly in the works at Lionsgate TV, per Variety. Oh, and btw, the project is apparently in its early stages of development and Meyer is reportedly involved.

When asked about the new venture, Hardwicke, who directed all five of the saga’s first installments, confessed that she has not “actually found out exactly” what the new adaptation will look like. “I don’t know yet. Maybe they don’t even know,” she dished to Horowitz, adding that the WGA strike likely delayed its development.

However, she still took a moment to ponder on some of the ~creative liberties~ she would take, which I, for one, am fully obsessed with: “For me, it would be fun to do Twilight in outer space. I would be ecstatic to do that, something totally different.”

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