The iconic vampire could’ve been totally different.
If you’re anything like us, you rewatch the Twilight saga every time the weather gets a little gloomy. The iconic fantasy series made a mark on pop culture when the books and movies were released in the 2000s, but little did we know, the star-crossed love story of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen could have looked totally different on screen.
The author of the Twilight saga, Stephenie Meyer, initially had a different actor in mind for the role of Edward — Henry Cavill. While Robert Pattinson ended up bringing the beloved vampire to life in the movies, Henry was at the top of Stephenie’s wish list when she learned there would be a film adaptation of her novel.
“The most disappointing thing for me is losing my perfect Edward. Henry Cavill is now 24 years old. Let us have a moment of quiet in which to mourn…” the author wrote on her blog when she announced that Summit Entertainment optioned the rights to her novel in July 2007.
In a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Henry said that he wasn’t aware that Stephenie thought of him as the “perfect Edward” until the first Twilight movie was already released. He explained that because of the timing, he doesn’t feel any rivalry with R-Patz.
“Not at all because I didn’t know about the movie,” Henry said. “I didn’t know about them wanting to cast me and the internet wasn’t quite the tool that it is now and so I only found out afterward. I was like, ‘Oh okay, that would have been cool.'”
The 39-year-old actor is notably known for his roles as Superman in the DC Extended Universe, and Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix fantasy series, The Witcher. He’s currently starring alongside Millie Bobby Brown as another iconic character, detective Sherlock Holmes, in Netflix’s Enola Holmes.
