With news of the revival of The Twilight Saga in animated form, there has been a renewed interest in the vampire-human romance franchise all over again. Edward and Bella have become cultural icons since the late noughties, and their story has become a permanent part of the fabric of pop culture. However, seeing how Stephanie Meyer’s magnum opus was written nearly two decades ago, there are some changes that could be made today that would benefit Twilight greatly.
There are many plot points in Twilight that were never fully explored in the series that many fans consider missed opportunities. These stories and characters, like Bree Tanner, could have changed the course of the story. Similarly, some events like Jacob’s imprint story and Bella’s dangerous behavior in New Moon could have been handled with more care. Fans are hoping that some of these changes can be applied to the proposed remake for a bigger, better Twilight Saga.
Updated on July 16, 2024, by Robbie Robinson: Even years later, Twilight is still endlessly fun to dive back into. It’s truly iconic, whether fans want to view it as a “bad” series or a “good” one. Regardless, there are a lot of things that were questionable in the series. This list has been updated to include more things that could be changed to improve Twilight as well as to get this article up to current CBR formatting standards.
Showing Bella Being a Better Friend
It’s a Wonder She Had As Many Friends As She Did
Bella notoriously skips out while with her friends and when she doesn’t, she’s usually with them to try to distract herself from Edward and not because she actually wants to be there. Even the first time she sits with them at lunch, she notices Edward and just spends lunch watching him.
One of Bella’s glaringly obvious flaws is that she’s not the world’s greatest friend. She’s too wrapped up in herself and Edward to really bother about her high school friends who genuinely care about her and want to hang out with her. Bella brushes characters like Jessica and Angela off so much that it’s a little unbelievable that they would even still consider her a good friend.
Bella barely interacts with them and when she does, her head is elsewhere, and she almost always ends up running off to do something Edward-related. It just makes every scene with her friends awkward to watch. Every character is obsessed with Bella for some reason, yet she doesn’t give fans much to work with to understand the appeal.
Making Jasper More Likable
He’s at the Bottom of the Totem Pole For Cullen Family Members
Jasper was a Confederate Soldier who got lured in by a couple of vampire women who turned him. He was then enlisted into a vampire army where he spends plenty of time turning innocent humans into vampires.
Jasper is a weird character. Bella hardly interacts with him (yes, mostly because he has a hard time controlling himself around humans), but he also just doesn’t really ever say that much. Fans get a more in-depth look into him when he’s training the Cullens and wolves how to fight fresh vampires, but still, there probably aren’t many people who would claim Jasper as their favorite character.
Another low blow for him is that he’s been a vampire for quite some time and still can’t control himself around humans. Maybe Bella is just built different, but she’s basically fine after about a month. He also seems to have almost no personality, so it’s surprising that someone as charismatic as Alice would choose him. Also, he was a Confederate soldier.
Putting the Cullens in College Instead of High School
Seriously, Who Wants to Relive High School Constantly?
If the Cullens went to a college town, they wouldn’t have to worry about moving or getting too close to people. It would also be a lot more enriching than taking the exact same high school-level courses over and over again.
Despite there being vampires and werewolves, one of the most frustratingly unrealistic aspects of this series is the fact that the Cullens keep repeating high school. In retrospect, the series certainly has a market for teenagers, so it makes sense from that point of view. However, college just makes more sense for the Cullens. Instead of hopping from small town to small town, the Cullens could simply move to a large college town.
Instead of having to move every four years, they could stay for way longer. People can study at the same college for a decade and can also be of all different ages. Not to mention, with so many people around, the Cullens wouldn’t have to worry about people being suspicious of them at all because they would simply blend in.
Exploring Alice’s Story Further
She’s Such a Cool Character, So It’s a Shame Movie-Only Fans Don’t Get to Know Much About Her
Alice Cullen was born Mary Alice Brandon in Mississippi in 1901. She could see visions of the future even as a human. Alice was turned into a vampire when she was in a mental health institute to save her life as she was chased by a hunter.
One of the less-explored stories in Twilight was Alice’s origin story. Beyond the novels, her story was told in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, but it deserved some screen time, as well as more development in the main novel series. Only book fans would know that Alice was hunted down by James, the very same tracker who came after Bella in the first installment. This connection was so important but was mentioned nowhere in the movies.
Alice’s backstory was so potent and tragic, but it was completely dismissed in favor of Bella and Edward’s romance. While the love story between the two was the crux of the series, fans would have loved to go deeper into the Twilight universe to be truly immersed.
