‘Midnight Sun’ Was the Messiest ‘Twilight’ Book, So Let’s Hope It’s Never A Movie

In perhaps the weirdest news to come out of this pandemic, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer is finally publishing Midnight Sun. If you weren’t a 13-year-old girl obsessed with Edward Cullen in 2008, you’re probably a little lost, so allow me to explain. Over a decade ago, when Twilight fever was at its height—Breaking Dawn had just come out, and the first Twilight movie was about to hit theaters—Meyer began writing a version of Twilight as told from Edward’s point-of-view. She asked actor Robert Pattinson to read it, to give him insight into his character. And she told her millions of fans—who were religiously reading her website every day—to expect it as a bonus fifth novel in the Twilight series, called Midnight Sun.

The excitement among Twilight fans for Midnight Sun cannot be understated. We were devastated that Breaking Dawn was the end of the story we’d been following for three years, and we were obsessed with Edward Cullen. The idea of another Twilight book from his perspective was pretty much the ultimate fantasy, and it was actually happening. Then, in August 2008, the first twelve chapters of Midnight Sun leaked online. In response, Meyer announced she was going to stop writing the book. “I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely,” she wrote on her website. She made the leaked chapters available in an official PDF.

Then, in 2015, Meyer released Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, a gender-swapped version of her international bestselling featuring Beau Swan and Edythe Cullen. When she was asked a New York Comic-Con panel shortly after about Midnight Sun, she said she had thought she was ready to write the story again—until she saw a headline comparing her new book to Fifty Shades of Grey, the explicit novel from E.L. James that was originally a Twilight fanfiction. “So what do you think was the top story on Yahoo the next morning? Grey. It was a literal flip the table moment for me,” she told the audience.

Any fans who were still holding out hope for Midnight Sun in 2015 thought that it was all over. And yet today, in the year 2020—in the middle of a pandemic—Meyer announced on Good Morning America that Midnight Sun was coming out on August 4, 2020. “I am very excited to finally, finally announce the release of Midnight Sun on 4 August,” Meyer said in a prerecorded video. “It’s a crazy time right now and I wasn’t sure it was the right time to put this book out, but some of you have been waiting for just so so long it didn’t seem right to make you wait anymore.”

And that’s what you missed in the Twilight fandom drama. In other words, the story behind Midnight Sun is a messy one. But like it or not, the book is finally coming out. Now the question is: Will it ever become a movie? I sincerely hope not.

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I think the chances of a Midnight Sun movie are slim. Even if they weren’t far too old for the roles anymore, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart have spent years distancing themselves from the series, and seem unlikely to return, even for a cameo. It’s also not really a story that’s up to 2020’s standards of feminism—if you thought Edward was creepy in the first Twilight movie, just wait until you hear his inner monologue about Bella. Meyer was also reportedly resistant to director Catherine Hardwicke’s push to make the film feel more modern with a diverse cast, so that could also be a roadblock for a 2020 Twilight film.

However, three years ago, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said the company would move forward with a Twilight spin-off, if Meyer signed off on it. This one might be in Meyer’s hands. Would she want to do another Twilight movie with a new cast? Or perhaps a TV remake, something that has been rumored as far back as 2012? Who knows? As long as nobody leaks the first 12 minutes online, anything is possible.

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