Twilight is coming back to life with an animated TV show on Netflix but based on another book in the saga, and thanks to one reveal in it, the show can be a lot darker and better. Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight book series was a huge pop culture phenomenon in the 2000s, and its massive popularity led to its film adaptation. However, although the movies made the world of Twilight even more popular and the fanbase grew, they also highlighted the biggest flaws in the story of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, drawing a lot of controversy.
The Twilight Saga began in 2008 and ended in 2012, but the popularity of the movies hasn’t decreased. Meyer kept the world of Twilight alive with the novella The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner and the gender-bent novel Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, and it’s now expanding to TV. Netflix is now developing a Twilight animated TV series using the 2020 novel Midnight Sun as the source, as it’s a retelling of Twilight from Edward’s point of view – and thanks to this and one reveal in it, the show can be a lot darker than the movie.
Midnight Sun Made A Dark Edward Cullen Reveal That Truly Made Him “The Bad Guy”
Edward Cullen Wasn’t Exaggerating When He Said He Was The Bad Guy
As mentioned above, Midnight Sun is Twilight told from Edward’s perspective, so it fills in some of the blanks left by Twilight and Bella’s point of view, thus expanding the story a bit more. Revisiting Edward and Bella’s first meeting and more from the former’s perspective answered some questions left by the Twilight books, such as Edward always knowing Bella would become a vampire thanks to Alice’s visions, where Edward went when he left Forks, and what he did while staying with Bella while she slept.
Midnight Sun shows Edward was right in calling himself a "bad guy."
Midnight Sun also made some dark reveals about Edward and his thoughts and feelings when he met Bella, which made his “bad guy” claims throughout Twilight true. Edward constantly mentioned to Bella that he was the bad guy, but Bella never listened and insisted on staying with him. Midnight Sun shows he was right in calling himself that, as it reveals that, if Edward hadn’t controlled his thirst for Bella, returned to Forks, and fallen in love with Bella, he would have returned to her house anyway to hunt her down.
Midnight Sun also reveals that Edward had some very dark and disturbing thoughts during the biology class in which he had to share a table with Bella. As Bella’s scent was too strong for him and it awoke his vampire side, Edward felt he had to kill Bella, but if he did so, he would also have to kill everyone else in the classroom. These thoughts and desires confirm that Edward was a bad guy and could have given in to that side of him, but he made a conscious choice not to.
How Netflix’s Twilight Animated Show Can Be Better Than The Movie
The Twilight TV Show Can Show A More Interesting Side Of The Movie
These dark reveals in Midnight Sun can make the Netflix Twilight TV show a lot better than the movie as they stop romanticizing Edward and show his obscure and actually dangerous side, which he almost gave himself into. The animated format allows more creative freedom for the Twilight remake, and through it, it can show how disturbing those thoughts and feelings Edward was struggling with truly were. The animated format also makes it a lot easier for the show to cover the most unbelievable parts of the story that didn’t look that good or real in live-action.
In terms of narrative, Netflix’s Twilight TV show is already better than the movie as Midnight Sun is a lot more complete than the original novel, and Edward’s point of view is more interesting and exciting than Bella’s. Netflix’s Twilight remake has a lot of potential, but it also has to learn from the biggest mistakes of the movies and the parts of the story that don’t work.
Twilight is a TV show reboot of the popular vampire film series that was based on Stephenie Meyer's young-adult novels.
Custom image by Ana Nieves.
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