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‘Twilight’ retelling ‘Midnight Sun’ amuses fans with Edward Cullen's murderous rage and 6th film’s prospects

Robert Pattinson is unlikely to act in a 'Midnight Sun' film that has already been greenlit, especially given his well-documented distaste for the films

On Tuesday, August 4, exactly 12 years after author Stephenie Meyer released her last ‘Twilight’ saga book, ‘Breaking Dawn’, the fifth and one of the most-awaited YA novels of the decade, ‘Midnight Sun’, released. Meyer put the book, which is a retelling of the ‘Twilight’ saga from vampire Edward Cullen’s perspective, on hold indefinitely in 2008.

Reportedly, Meyer scrapped plans for the book in 2008 after a draft of her manuscript leaked on the internet. She said at the time that “what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being”, and that she was setting the manuscript to one side.

As per a report in The Guardian, one million hardbacks of ‘Midnight Sun’ have already been printed in the U.S., while in the U.K., publisher Atom Books has printed 300,000 copies, and is anticipating a huge first week of sales. “‘Midnight Sun’ was always going to be a big deal,” said publisher James Gurbutt. “Fans had been able to read a few chapters years ago, so they’d had a taster of what is to come but wanted more. Now, more than a decade after that leak, they get to hear Edward’s full story. At a time when bookshops have only fairly recently reopened, we hope this will be a really significant publication for retailers.”

Meyer told the New York Times that the “real reason the book took so long to write is because this was just a huge, pain-in-the-butt book to write”. She said, “I think the part that people won’t expect is: Edward is a very anxious character. Writing him made me more anxious, and that’s one of the reasons it was hard to be in that story. His anxiety combined with mine was potent. He starts off fairly confident, but boy does he get broken down by the end. Bella really breaks him into pieces. I think he comes across in ‘Twilight’ being very strong and so super sure of himself, when that never was really actually the case.”

Fans and non-fans of the ‘Twilight’ saga alike have been talking about the book on social media. One fan, sharing the first page of the book, wrote on Twitter, “Good morning Twitter, it’s time to put on your khakis and your Ray-bans and get in your shiny Volvo because our favorite emo glow stick is back.”

Fans seemed to find Edward’s thought highly amusing, especially how much he hated Mike Newton, one of the students who attends Forks High School with Bella Swan, who also has a very visible crush on Bella. 

Of course, not everyone talking about it was gushing about the book, Edward, or Meyer. One Twitter user wrote, “Just when I thought 2020 couldn't get any worse, Stephanie Meyer released a new Twilight book. #MidnightSun #neveragain.”

But even as fans were raving about the book, there were also many wondering about a ‘Midnight Sun’ film. “Everyone is waiting for the rest of the books in his POV and potentially a movie. We’re lucky she finished #MidnightSun. Also if they did a movie I guarantee that the cast would not do it. They finally started to escape that character they portrayed. Also, Rob hates ‘Twilight’,” wrote a fan.

A sixth film in the ‘Twilight’ saga, based on the new book, has already been greenlit. Robert Pattinson, who played Edward Cullen in the films, is famously known for not liking the films at all. On several occasions, in several interviews, Pattinson has expressed his distaste for the ‘Twilight’ films. Fans then could not help talk about how Pattinson would react if he were asked to do the sixth film, even though his schedule is quite full playing the role of the Caped Crusader right now.

"[It] would be fun. It would be fascinating," said filmmaker Catherine Hardwicke who directed the first ‘Twilight film on the idea of making the sixth one. “Rob is Batman now... and Kristen is in a million beautiful projects. Who knows what would happen.” Many fans have also been wondering if old footage from the ‘Twilight’ films could be repurposed into a ‘Midnight Sun’ film. But it’s too soon to tell right now.