Yes, Netflix is really making THAT ‘Twilight’ book into an animated series

Netflix is staying in the fang game after AMC’s Interview With the Vampire hit the platform. The streaming service has ordered an animated adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s Midnight Sun to series—yes, that Midnight Sun, a.k.a. Twilight from Edward Cullen’s point of view.

Per Variety, Meyer will serve as an executive producer on the series. Sinead Daly, whose writing you know from Tell Me Lies, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, The Walking Dead: The World Beyond, Raised by Wolves, and The Get Down will adapt the book. That’s a decent CV for someone looking to step into a familiar world and adapt a dark-ish tale. You already know the story; it’s just the first Twilight book from Edward’s perspective. This is still early days, so there’s no news on which actors will voice Edward, Bella, and the rest of the Forks crew in the series, nor do we know what style of animation the series will use, which is crucial. Those sparkles are gonna have to really sparkle. Regardless, gird your loins for what is sure to be a lot of discourse about the problematic elements of this beloved saga.

Midnight Sun has a storied history in the Twilight fandom. Infamously, twelve chapters leaked online in 2008 before Meyer finished writing the manuscript. The ordeal upset Meyer so much that she shelved the entire project indefinitely. It became somewhat of a legend. It was that book we were never going to get. We’d joke about an author “pulling a Midnight Sun” by essentially writing their own fanfiction. To complicate matters further, in 2015, E.L. James published Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian, the Midnight Sun to Fifty Shades of Grey‘s Twilight (obligatory reminder that Fifty Shades literally started out as Twilight fanfiction). Then, in 2020, Meyer surprised fans and published the whole dang thing.

It’s not the only remix Meyer has published, either. Remember the gender-swapped Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined—the tale of Edythe Cullen and Beaufort “Beau” Swann? (Where were you when The Rock himself commented on a passage from Life and Death that dropped his name?) Maybe, if Midnight Sun is successful on Netflix, that will be their next adaptation.

Or, you know, this series could just continue the rest of the Twilight saga from Edward’s POV. Meyer was planning on writing at least two more Twilight books. Aren’t you kind of curious as to Edward’s take on the Team Jacob of it all? The first book barely scratches the surface of this epic romance. If you’re gonna do his side of the story, you might as well really go for it.

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Leah Marilla Thomas

Leah Marilla Thomas (she/her) is a contributor at The Mary Sue. She has been working in digital entertainment journalism since 2013, covering primarily television as well as film and live theatre. She's been on the Marvel beat professionally since Daredevil was a Netflix series. (You might recognize her voice from the Newcomers: Marvel podcast). Outside of journalism, she is 50% Southerner, 50% New Englander, and 100% fangirl over everything from Lord of the Rings to stage lighting and comics about teenagers. She lives in New York City and can often be found in a park. She used to test toys for Hasbro. True story!