Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s unreleased Twilight sequel sheds light on what Bella Swan and Edward Cullen’s story would have been like had it been the second installment in the franchise. In fact, the unpublished sequel, Forever Dawn, would have reduced the franchise to a two-part book series as opposed to the four-part book series it is today.
Although Meyer didn’t know it at the time, the franchise — comprising six novels and five Twilight movies — became one of the most successful vampire franchises of all time despite rewriting a lot of vampire traditions. If she had published Forever Dawn as the second and final book of the Twilight Saga, not only would the blockbuster landscape be changed completely, but public perception of certain characters would be massively altered. The character that would have experienced the most change is Jacob Black.
The Twilight Saga’s Original Sequel Would Have Shortened The Story
Forever Dawn Cuts Out The Events of New Moon and Eclipse
Author Stephanie Meyer revealed in a blog post on her website that, prior to writing New Moon, she had written another direct sequel to Twilight called Forever Dawn (via Stephenie Meyer). The lost sequel — which Meyer gifted to her sister — covered the basic story of Breaking Dawn, the final book in the series. Meyer shared that she had no intention of publishing the book, saying:
“I was about three hundred pages into Forever Dawn when my life got turned upside down. Twilight was going to be published. People were going to read what I was writing. More specifically, young adults were going to be reading what I was writing. Unintentionally, I’d written a young adult novel. I realized pretty quickly that Forever Dawn did not follow the rules of YA (via Stephenie Meyer) .”
Like Breaking Dawn, Forever Dawn followed Bella Swan as she faced the difficulties of marriage, motherhood, and life as a vampire. The book skipped over the rest of Bella’s senior year entirely. Because of this, if it had been published, the original Twilight sequel would have cut the story in half, as the events of New Moon and Eclipse — the second and third book in the series, respectively — wouldn’t have happened. This would primarily affect the interpersonal relationships between characters, especially Jacob Black’s relationship with Bella.
Because the plot of Forever Dawn skipped over the events of New Moon and Eclipse , Edward never leaves Bella, so she and Jacob never have a reason to bond.
