Get those fangs sharpened, get that skin sparkly, and prepare to play baseball in a thunderstorm: Twilight is coming back. There might be a long time to wait until the Twilight TV series release date, but that’s not going to stop us from speculating wildly about what sort of form our return to Stephenie Meyer’s best fantasy series will take.
After all, those of us who spent our teenage years devouring the saga of Edward and Bella and watching all of the Twilight movies on hard rotation will know how many breadcrumbs Meyer left behind. Often, it seemed as if a tantalising world of vampire politics was just out of sight, along with plentiful gory tales of supernatural romance. While we all loved Bella rotating in a chair over the course of the changing seasons, obviously, we were desperate to learn a little more about this world of supernatural beasties and ancient traditions.
So, while we wait for the new show to arrive, let’s delve into some of that potential. We all know that the return of Twilight could present us with the best TV series ever made, right? Here are six ideas for how they can crack it for sure.
Cullen Origins
While it’s very likely that this will be a narrative series exploring a continuing story, there’s real potential in an anthology series outlining the lives of the various Cullens on their way to vampirism, and before they rolled into Forks. Edward has a lot of graduation caps on his wall, which means there are so many stories to tell from his life.
Some of these stories are ready-made. For example, we know that Alice had a previous experience fleeing the tracker bad guy James from the first Twilight movie, with her vampire transformation happening in order for her to avoid being killed by him. We also know from the flashback sequences in Eclipse that Rosalie vengefully murdered her rapist fiancé while wearing a wedding dress. There are clearly stories to be told here, and a TV series is the perfect format to give every Cullen time to sparkle.
Volturi
With their special vampire powers and love of theatrical justice, the Volturi were among the best movie villains of the 2010s. They’re part-police, part-politicians, and part-dictators, carrying out brutal and swift punishment on vampires who break their kind’s ancient rules. Are we ready for Line of Duty, with vampires? Of course we are. There’s only one thing we’re interested in: catching bent coppers, beheading them, and burning their bodies. It’s the vampire way.
This provides a great opportunity for some of the best members of the Twilight cast to return for another dose of chaos. Michael Sheen was pure sadistic joy as Aro, Dakota Fanning still looks young enough to play the utterly chilling, powerful Jane, and Jamie Campbell Bower has even more villain points than before after portraying Vecna in Stranger Things. Make it happen.
The Egyptian Coven
Before the Volturi rose to power and ruled the roost, it was the Egyptian coven on top. They are introduced in Breaking Dawn as being arguably the oldest vampire coven on Earth, having dominated Northern Africa for centuries. They later fought with the (also-very-old) Romanian coven for domination, until the Volturi showed up and took control.
This centuries-old power struggle could provide a fascinating backdrop for the Twilight TV series if they want to go in a more epic direction like House of the Dragon or Rings of Power. It would certainly be in keeping with TV trends right now.
And, of course, the most powerful member of the coven in Breaking Dawn was the element-controlling Benjamin – as played by future Oscar winner Rami Malek. We’re sure he’s got a gap in his diary to return, right?
Children of the Moon
OK, stay with us. The werewolves in Twilight aren’t werewolves. If you’ve seen the movies or read the books, you’ll know that they’re actually “shape-shifters” who take the form of wolves. Semantics, huh? Confusingly, the Twilight world does have true, traditional werewolves, and they have the super-cool name Children of the Moon.
The story of the Children of the Moon is fascinating, as they have been locked in an eternal conflict with vampires. The Volturi were in fact so spooked by Children of the Moon that they tried to have all werewolves across Europe and Asia wiped out, in a sort of Order 66 for lycanthropes. That particular element of their history would make for a really exciting TV series. And it’s something very different to the Twilight we know, which would definitely be a thrill.
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Released in 2010, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is a novella based on a minor character from Eclipse. Part of her story made it into the movie, but the narrative around the formation and internal struggles of a newborn vampire army is a juicy one. It could certainly power an entire TV series rather than a mere segment of a blockbuster with many, many spinning narrative plates.
As much as we’d love the Twilight TV series to focus on a completely different corner of the vampire world, it will likely want to remain close enough to the main story to enable a fan-service cameo or two. Though we wouldn’t get too excited if we were a Robert Pattinson fan.
A Bree Tanner story could allow the show’s creators to stay close to the tried-and-tested story while exploring different characters and a less privileged strata of vampire society.
Nahuel
Nahuel is the most important character you don’t remember from the Twilight movies. He shows up late in the day as evidence presented by the Cullens to explain that Edward and Bella’s daughter Renesmee – stop tittering at the back – is not an illegal immortal child, but a perfectly reasonable human-vampire hybrid. That’s all good, right?
The 150-year-old Nahuel is the final piece of evidence that averts catastrophe at the conclusion of Breaking Dawn, revealing that Renesmee can live a normal – albeit vampiric – life and will not pose a threat to other vampires.
But his own back-story is ripe for a TV series, changing up the backdrop of the series and exploring the South American vampire community. Nahuel’s human mother was impregnated by an “angel” she met in the woods, who later returned in the belief he could create a super race of hybrids, only to be rejected by Nahuel. That’s the story we want to see!
The possibilities for the Twilight TV series are endless, and we have our fingers crossed that the show does something different to surpass even the best movies in the franchise. We all love Forks, but sometimes we need more than constant drizzle and teen romance.
For more from the world of YA, check out our guide to the Hunger Games prequel as we look at The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes release date. We’ve also got guides to the return of the Harry Potter movies, with the Harry Potter TV series release date and the possible Harry Potter and the Cursed Child release date.
Or, if you can’t get enough Twilight, find out why we think the Twilight ending is one of the best movie twists ever.