The Twilight Renaissance was alive and well at C2E2

The Twilight Renaissance is upon us and has been for the past few years, and you would think this resurgence in popularity would’ve sparked the inspiration for more Twilight content, but it surprisingly hasn’t.

If this were a Disney-owned product, I could guarantee there would be a Twilight series premiering on Disney+ or Hulu in 2022, which would mark two years since the release of Midnight Sun. The novel, which was released in May of 2020 by Stephanie Meyer, follows the story of the original Twilight novel, just from the viewpoint of Edward, rather than Bella.

Midnight Sun is credited as the originator of the Twilight Renaissance, as dubbed by users on Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram, though the memes and use of the phrase go back as far as 2018, around the tenth anniversary of the original film’s release.

No matter when it started, it’s clear that people are hungry for more Twilight content. When the films were added back to Netflix earlier this year, each film landed a spot in the Netflix top 10 and has remained popular on the platform since.

With so many shows and films getting revivals and spin-offs lately, it feels odd that Twilight hasn’t had its turn. Though it may have to do with the studios that produced the film, Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate, not being directly tied to a streaming service or at least one they would put a Twilight revival on.

Most of the revivals and spin-offs we’ve seen, Gossip Girl, iCarly, Saved by the Bell, have all been used to either launch a streaming service, or to just attract viewers via nostalgia to any streaming service that isn’t Netflix. Though these shows are hardly Emmy-bait, and the Lionsgate-owned STARZ platform seems to have a higher standard than reboots and revivals for their original content.

Not all hope is lost, though. At Chicago’s Comic and Entertainment Expo, C2E2, on December 11, 2021,Twilight cast members Ashley Green, Jackson Rathbone, and Kellan Lutz came together for a reunion panel.

At the panel, Kellan Lutz in particular, who played Cullen clan member Emmett Cullen, expressed interest in making both a Midnight Sun film and an Emmett spin-off series. At an autograph signing, he also expressed a want to reunite with his Twilight cast members on screen, Nikki Reed especially, who played his on-screen lover Rosalie Hale. He specifically mentioned scenes from the books between Rosalie and Emmett that he’d loved to have seen in the films, and said he’d love to do a Rosalie/Emmett series about their journey together.

Green and Rathbone both also joked about an Emmett series and a Midnight Sun film and seemed both nostalgic and appreciative of their time in the franchise. Green also mentioned how much she enjoyed reprising her role as Alice in a video with Lutz of the iconic Twilight baseball scene, which was part of a YouTube sketch released in October of this year.

The Twilight books are long and filled with so many interesting moments, especially in the backstories of the rest of the Cullen coven, so there’s plenty of untapped material to flesh out in a variety of different ways. As a fan of the series, I’d personally love to see any new Twilight Saga content, especially with as many of the original cast members as possible.

Despite my want and need for more Twilight content, I’m also content with the films that we do have, as flawed and wonderful as they are. I can imagine a lot of fans don’t want the nostalgia tainted by a possible revival, or even a reboot, and are probably content to just continue to enjoy the completed story as it was told on film and in the original book series.

Whether we get more Twilight or not, it’s clear that the love for the series isn’t fading anytime soon. Thanks to the incredibly enthusiastic crowd gathered at C2E2 to celebrate the series, the actors, and the community that was built around everyone’s shared love of sparkly vampires.

How would you feel about a potential spin-off? Which character would you like to see more of?