Twilight's Netflix Debut Will Officially Change Edward Cullen's Story

Published Nov 11, 2026, 11:30 AM EST

Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once.

The Twilight franchise is coming back to life now on Netflix, and this new project will officially change Edward Cullen’s story. The 2000s saw the peak of the vampire trend in books, film, and TV, with the latter seeing the arrival of shows like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries. On the big screen, the biggest example of the vampire trend of the 2000s is the Twilight Saga, an adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s book series, starting with Twilight in 2008.

Twilight launched the careers of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, who played vampire Edward Cullen and mortal Bella Swan, whose romance is the core of the novels and movies. Despite its flaws and controversies, the Twilight saga is still quite popular, and even though it ended over a decade ago with Breaking Dawn – Part 2, the franchise is preparing an exciting comeback now on Netflix and as an animated show.

An animated TV format and a release on Netflix isn’t the only surprise in Twilight’s exciting comeback, as the show will be a retelling of the first book but with a twist. The Twilight TV show is an adaptation of Midnight Sun, the 2020 companion novel to Twilight that went through some major challenges before its publication, as an unfinished manuscript was leaked. Midnight Sun is a retelling of Twilight, but from Edward’s perspective.

Netflix’s Twilight TV Show Tells The Story From Edward Cullen’s Perspective

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight book series has a couple of companions, such as Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, which is a gender-swapped version of the first book, and the novella The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. However, the most notable companion material is Midnight Sun, thanks to its main character being Edward, while Bella serves as the guide and narrator throughout the Twilight saga.

Revisiting the events of Twilight can definitely feel repetitive, but Edward’s perspective does add to the story and the character, even changing the general perception of the character. Midnight Sun makes some notable reveals, such as what Edward truly felt and thought when he first saw Bella (including some murderous thoughts against her and their classmates), what Edward did while watching Bella sleep, and where he went when he suddenly disappeared.

While these might seem like small details, they do change the story of Twilight and that of Edward, as they add depth and complexity to the character, whom the audience only got to know through Bella’s eyes, thus giving the idea of being a one-dimensional, cold, and at times shallow man, when, in reality, he carries a lot of trauma and pain.

Midnight Sun Could Start A New Era In The Twilight Saga

Netflix’s adaptation of Twilight’s Midnight Sun will surely bring new interest to the original novel series and the Midnight Sun book, potentially launching a new era in the franchise. As mentioned above, the Twilight book series has companion books, and the most notable thing about them is that most of them are some sort of retelling of the first novel.

At the time of writing, there are no more books coming to the Twilight series, though Meyer shared in 2020 that she had been working on two more novels. Now, Netflix’s Midnight Sun animated series has already been ordered for two seasons, which can perfectly cover the events of the novel, but if the show succeeds, it could make way for a new wave of Twilight content, now from Edward’s perspective.

It would be interesting to see what Edward felt and thought throughout the events of New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn, more specifically during his breakup with Bella in New Moon and her transformation in Breaking Dawn. It’s to be seen whether Stephenie Meyer decides to share Edward’s perspective from the rest of the Twilight saga in Netflix’s Midnight Sun or if this will just be a two-season show.

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