‘Twilight’ TV Series in Development

Lionsgate is Starting Development of a ‘Twilight’ TV Adaptation

Author Stephanie Meyers is involved as a producer, while Sinead Daly has been hired to write the initial script.

(L to R) Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson star in 'Twilight.'

Anything Warner Bros. Discovery can do, Lionsgate’s TV arm can… Also do? Yes, it would appear that TV adaptations of legacy movie series based on popular books are all the rage right now, what with the Max announcement about the ‘Harry Potter’ series.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate has its own plans, this time focused on Stephanie Meyers’ ‘Twilight’ books. You remember those, right? The story of withdrawn teen Bella and sparkly vampire Edward who find star crossed love and end up getting married and having a truly terrifying vampire baby called Renesmee. All right, so there’s more to it than that…

Twilight

"When you can live forever, what do you live for?"

PG-132 hr 2 minNov 21st, 2008

Showtimes & Tickets

Watch Twilight Online

What’s the story of the ‘Twilight’ books?

Just in case the huge pop cultural event somehow passed you by, Meyers’ books were published between 2005 and 2008 (with a few spin-offs and other novellas) and were originally born from a dream the author had. The four main titles are ‘Twilight’, ‘New Moon,’ ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Breaking Dawn’.

Primarily set in Forks, Washington, they follow Bella Swan (played by Kristen Stewart in the movies), a quiet teenager who is described as a clumsy “danger magnet”. She catches the eye of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), a vampire who is more than a century old, but looks like a teenager and attends high school with Bella when his family makes their latest move to avoid questions about the kids’ lack of aging.

Edward’s family are peaceful vampires who hunt and drink the blood of animals, but there are others who are much more dangerous –– and they’ll cause problems for the lovers. Then there’s Bella’s old friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), who is part of a pack of werewolves, and the ages-old rivalry between the supernatural creatures is also an issue. Add to that the fact that a love triangle springs up between Jacob, Bella, and Edward. There is much moody glowering and acting out before Bella and Edward end up married, giving birth to a powerful child and do battle with the controlling cadre of vampires worldwide.

(L to R) Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart star in 'Twilight.'

What’s the plan for TV?

It’s still very early days for this one –– while Meyer is planning to be involved, the lion’s share of creative side is being handled by Sinead Daly, whose credits include ‘Tell Me Lies’, ‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’, ‘Raised by Wolves’ and ‘The Get Down’. She’ll work on the initial script for the show.

A bigger question will be the focus of the show. The movies largely faithfully adapted the books (splitting the fourth into two films), but with the series, there’s a chance that the company could decide to re-adapt the books or use some offshoot of the story.

At this point, the studio has yet to take it out to potential buyers, waiting to fully develop the idea before it is shopped. But you just know that streaming services and other outlets will be interested, particularly since the books and movies still have a following (and the films earned more than $3.4 billion worldwide).

Will we see more from Bella and Edward? All signs (and portents) point to yes.