Star of the original films, Jackson Rathbone, shared his perfect story premise for a Twilight prequel. The beloved series of blood-sucking romantic dramas, starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, ran from 2008 to 2012, recounting the epic tale of love between human Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen.
In the decade since the last Twilight movie hit theaters (titled Breaking Dawn Part 2), fans have been teased about a potential return to the franchise on the big screen; however, nothing concrete has come to fruition. Now, nearly 13 years later, one of the series' biggest stars has pitched his idea for the next film in the Twilight saga.
Speaking to fans during the "Meet the Cullens" panel at FanExpo Canada (via Collider), Jasper Cullen/Hale actor Jackson Rathbone made his plea for a new Twilight prequel movie.
"I actually would really love to see Jasper’s story be told," Rathbone told the crowd. "They can de-age me—it’d be sweet," he added:
"I actually would really love to see Jasper’s story be told, and it would be one of those things where they have the technology, they can de-age me — it’d be sweet."
He also mentioned he would be open to "passing the torch" if a new generation of fang-bearing stars wanted to come in and tackle whatever is next in the Twilight universe.
Rathbone praised the Twilight franchise for its core themes, positing that it's "a story...about learning to love yourself through the eyes of others:"
"It’s a story, to me, about redemption. It’s a story, to me, about forgiveness. And it’s a story, to me, about learning to love yourself through the eyes of others, and it’s a beautiful experience."
He closed in saying, while he would love to explore how his Jasper came to be in the original Twilight film, "we don’t have to see everything on screen," and imagining what the character could have been up to is just as fun:
"We don’t have to see everything on screen… I think we have to allow ourselves to have imagination, allow ourselves to see that a character can have a past that maybe we don’t know verbatim, or that there is a possibility of redemption."
The Twilight film franchise has now lain dormant for over 13 years. Since Breaking Dawn Part 2's 2012 release, fans have gotten a few bits of supplemental materials set in the Twilight world, with author of the original books Stephanie Meyer returning to the night-walking romance with Life and Death (a reimagining of the original Twilight story where Edward and Bella's roles in the story are swapped) and Midnight Sun (a retelling of Twilight from Edward's perspective).
Will Twilight Ever Return to Movie Theaters
Since the last film in the Twilight saga came to theaters, fans have been clamoring for more of Stephanie Meyer's acclaimed vampire romance on the big screen.
While other franchises that were contemporaneous with the Twilight movies (like Harry Potter and Hunger Games) have come back in some form after finishing their initial runs of films, Twilight has remained tucked away.
Several nuggets about a new Twilight movie have circulated over the years, with a potential original sequel being something studio Lionsgate wanted to pursue at some point, but nothing substantial has happened.
The last tease fans got came in 2023 during an episode of Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast (via People). On that show, co-writer of the first Twilight film, Catherine Hardwicke, said she would love to do a reboot of the franchise with Jenna Ortega and Jacob Elordi in the lead roles; however, nothing official has been announced.
For now, all fans must get their Twilight fill, a pair of additional novels from Meyer. Initially announced in 2020, these further Twilight stories do not have specific release timing, but they are confirmed to be coming.
