The Twilight fandom is finally getting the long awaited novel Midnight Sun, but contrary to the Twilight Saga, this one probably won’t become a movie. Back in 2005, Stephenie Meyer introduced readers to a world where vampires, werewolves, and humans coexist, all told through the eyes of mortal Bella Swan, who fell in love with vampire Edward Cullen in Twilight. The book was followed by three more novels, and it wasn’t long until they made the jump to be big screen.
The film adaptation of Twilight was released in 2008 with Catherine Hardwicke as director and with Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen. Though it got mixed reviews from critics, it was a big hit with the audience, making way for four more films as the final novel, Breaking Dawn, was split into two. Twilight went on to become a big cultural phenomenon, and Meyer teased an expansion of sorts through another novel: Midnight Sun.
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Given that the Twilight Saga is told from Bella’s perspective (one that has proven to be problematic), Midnight Sun will be Edward’s version of the events, something that fans have been waiting to read. Now, after years of waiting and not getting any updates on it, Midnight Sun is finally coming out in August 2020 – but what does the future hold for this story?
Twilight: Will Midnight Sun Become A Movie?
Midnight Sun is referred to as a companion novel to Twilight, and is a retelling of the events of that novel but told by Edward Cullen. Meyer once stated this was the only book from the series that she planned to rewrite from Edward’s perspective, but everything changed in August 2008, when twelve chapters of the unfinished manuscript were leaked. Meyer stated that she wasn’t in the correct frame of mind to continue writing the book after the incident, and decided to put it on hold indefinitely, but not before making the leaked chapters available on her website so her readers could take a look.
Meyer later said she would go back to it once everyone forgot about it, and in 2015, after the release of the Twilight gender-swapped version titled Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, she revealed she felt comfortable to go back to Midnight Sun – but then Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian happened, which was the same concept as her project. Midnight Sun remained on hold for a couple more years, until she announced that it’s finally being published in August 2020. Although a retelling of Twilight from Edward’s perspective would be interesting to watch on the big screen, it’s too late for it to become a movie, at least in the way Twilight became known.
The cast is much older now, and they are all involved in different projects – for instance, Robert Pattinson is now part of DC’s movie universe as the new Batman. It would be hard for Midnight Sun to repeat the success of the films from the Twilight Saga without the original cast, and it’s also to be seen if fans would still be interested in more films from the world of Twilight. Of course, Midnight Sun could go through a full recast for the sake of bringing the story to the big screen, but that would also depend on how well received the book is with both old and new readers.
