New Moon wasn’t always Twilight’s sequel, as Stephenie Meyer had a different story in mind, titled Forever Dawn. Here’s what happened.
Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight was followed by three books, with its direct sequel being New Moon, though that wasn’t the original plan, and Meyer wrote a different sequel that never saw the light – here’s what happened. In 2005, Meyer shared her unique vision of vampires and werewolves in Twilight, introducing readers to a world where these creatures and humans coexist, though the existence of the first two is mostly kept a secret. The Twilight book series followed the problematic romance between vampire Edward Cullen and mortal Bella Swan, who came across different obstacles, such as other vampire covens and even a pack of werewolves.
The Twilight novels were a big success and quickly built a large fanbase that remained loyal for years, and this success allowed Meyer’s stories to make the jump to the big screen. The Twilight Saga was released between 2008 and 2012, with the final novel, Breaking Dawn, split into two movies, and the adaptations were as loyal to the source material as possible. While the quality of the stories isn’t the best, the Twilight Saga met its goal of appealing to the fans of the books, but the fate of the Twilight book series and movies could have been very different had Meyer published what was originally going to be the second book: Forever Dawn.
Twilight was followed by New Moon, which continued Edward and Bella’s story shortly after the end of the first book, but that wasn’t Meyer’s original plan. Meyer’s original sequel to Twilight was titled Forever Dawn, and it would have skipped all the events in New Moon and Eclipse, brought back characters that ended up being killed in the aforementioned books, and more. Details about Forever Dawn have been revealed through the years, and it will have skipped the rest of Bella’s high school experience in order to explore more mature themes. Meyer ultimately decided not to make Forever Dawn the sequel to Twilight as it didn’t “fall into the young adult genre” because she “wasn’t thinking about her audience yet” and was just writing for her own amusement.
Although she did finish writing Forever Dawn, Meyer decided not to publish it and instead gave it to her big sister for her birthday. Once with Forever Dawn out of the picture, Meyer focused on writing a sequel with a YA focus, and that’s how New Moon happened. However, the basic story of Forever Dawn was later used as the basis of Breaking Dawn, which saw Edward and Bella getting married, becoming parents to a human/vampire hybrid kid named Renesmee, and Bella finally transformed into a vampire. Of course, there were many differences and details that had to be changed due to the events of New Moon and Eclipse, such as the relationship between Jacob and Bella (who in Forever Dawn weren’t close as Edward never left, so they never bonded ), the werewolves’ involvement in the story, and Victoria and Laurent’s fates, who in Forever Dawn were still alive, although Victoria was killed by the werewolves.
Stephenie Meyer has promised to share excerpts of Forever Dawn but has no plans to publish it, unlike Midnight Sun, which was leaked and Meyer decided to put it on hold for years before finally publishing in 2020. Forever Dawn definitely sounds like a more mature story and would have brought the Twilight series to an end very quickly, though that isn’t necessarily bad. Twilight fans will be left wondering how different Edward and Bella’s relationship would have been had New Moon and Eclipse never happened, and they will be the ones who will ultimately decide if it would have improved their stories or not.
