‘Dusk’
Courtesy of Summit Entertainment
Break out the shine.
The Twilight saga will be covered on television, sources tell that a serial version of author Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling book series is in early development through Lionsgate Television.
Sinead Daly, whose credits include Tell Me Lies, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Raised by Wolves, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Get Down, is set to write the screenplay for Twilight. Sources say Daly is working with Lionsgate TV to determine what the specific version of Twilight will be like and whether it will be a remake of Meyer’s books or a different spin-off.
The Twilight TV series is still in its infancy and has no network/platform yet, sources say the studio that controls the rights to the franchise plans to lead the development of the project before it owns the rights to the package buys. There’s no timeline yet for when the Twilight series will be revealed to potential buyers.
Sources say author Meyer is expected to be involved in the television adaptation. Wyck Godfrey and former Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-president Erik Feig, who bought the rights to the Twilight book series after the death of Paramount Pictures during his tenure at Summit Entertainment, are both hired to produce the television recording. Godfrey’s Temple Hill banner produced all five films that Feig’s Summit distributed. The film franchise that starred Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner has collectively grossed more than $3.4 billion worldwide.
Lionsgate Television officials declined to comment.
Twilight is an important part of Lionsgate’s library. In 2017, five years after Breaking Dawn: Part 2 wrapped Meyer’s film adaptation, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer told Wall Street during a conference call about the results, “There’s a lot more story to tell and we’re ready to to tell them when our creators are ready to tell those stories”, in reference to the Twilight and Hunger Games franchises.
News of a Twilight TV series comes as Lionsgate has been in talks with multiple bidders to potentially spin off its studio business and premium cable network, Starz, by the end of September 2023. Lionsgate’s studio business, which includes film and television production divisions, increased revenue 25 percent to nearly $900 million in the third quarter.
Lionsgate TV also recently announced plans to revive Spartacus with a continuing series from creator Steven S. DeKnight. Lionsgate TV produced both Spartacus: Blood and Sand and the prequel miniseries Gods of the Arena, as the franchise also remains a valuable piece of the studio’s library. Lionsgate and Starz also recently revived Party Down, and the studio has been investigating a sequel to former Showtime comedy Weeds, as reboots are easier to market and clean up the clutter while helping to add value to years-old library titles.
The Twilight movies recently moved their streaming home to NBCUniversal’s Peacock after working at Netflix.
The timing of the Twilight series comes as HBO Max recently confirmed it is in early development of a Harry Potter television adaptation, with plans for a decade-long installment of JK Rowling’s beloved book series, with the controversial author as executive producer. Genre programming remains in high demand as Amazon released a new version of The Lord of the Rings last year, with Warner Bros. Discovery also planning to produce new installments of the feature films based on the works of JRR Tolkien.
Daly is represented by WME, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and attorney Ashley Silver.