The Twilight franchise is sinking its teeth into animation with Midnight Sun—a new toon treatment of Stephenie Meyer’s same-name novel that has just received a straight-to-series order from Netflix.

The project is in development at Lionsgate Television, with Sinead Daly (The Get Down) attached as a writer and executive producer. Like the book it’s based on, Midnight Sun will retell the story of lead book Twilight (2005) from the perspective of Edward Cullen, the vampire who original protagonist Bella Swan meets and eventually falls in love with. 

Meyer is on board as an EP, along with Meghan Hibbett (Fickle Fish Films); Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen (Temple Hill Entertainment); and Erik Feig and Samie Kim Falvey (Picturestart). 

The five-movie Twilight franchise generated US$3.4 billion in global ticket sales between 2008 and 2012. And though it’s been dormant screen-wise for more than a decade, demand still seems to be alive and well for the vampiric saga, given that Midnight Sun sold a million copies in its first week at market in August 2020.

News that Lionsgate was reviving this lucrative teen-favorite IP first surfaced in April 2023. It’s a sound strategy for the studio that has already renewed momentum for its other major teen/YA brand, The Hunger Games. This dystopian franchise is gearing up for the release of a 2026 feature to follow up last year’s prequel pic The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which grossed US$337 million against a US$100-million budget.