Dawn’s Broken: What’s Next for the Stars of ‘Twilight’?

March 7, 2013

By Tom Blunt

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Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart in 'Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2'/Image © 2011 Summit Entertainment

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With the release of “Breaking Dawn: Part 2″ on DVD and Blu-Ray, a very long chapter has finally come to a close — and not just in the lives of Twilight fans, who have spent the last five years obsessing over every stage of the adaptation process (and can now watch the last two films back-to-back). The films’ stars have also found themselves catapulted in all directions since 2008, some with more predictable trajectories than others. Now that they’re free from the gravitational pull of Stephenie Meyer’s fictional world, what will they do to stay on our radars? Here’s what the future holds, as far as we can tell.

Kristen Stewart
Of all the “Twilight” stars, Stewart has probably gained the most in the short term and the least in the long term. As Bella Swan she has capably anchored a megablockbuster franchise, but the process of carefully transplanting herself from one franchise to another (“Snow White and the Huntsman”) has left her little time to explore other aspects of her identity. This may explain some of the public’s frustration with her as a one-note screen personality. Meanwhile, a reward is still being offered for her off-screen personality, which has yet to be located.

Robert Pattinson
Was there ever a more reluctant sex symbol? Or abstinence symbol, for that matter. Pattinson’s upcoming calendar of films shows that he’s sprinting away from “Twilight” as fast as his merely-human legs will carry him. He’s been laying track toward a fresh career for years, being careful to play against type in films like “Cosmopolis” and “Bel Ami.” His need to overcompensate for these years in heartthrob hell (poor baby) makes him the most likely out of the entire cast to end up accepting a major acting award in the next five years.

Taylor Lautner
Of all the breakup tactics out there, the slow fade-out is probably the least humane. That’s what the hunky Lautner’s getting now from the film industry, faring no better with Hollywood than his character Jacob did with Bella. Let’s hope he manages to imprint himself on something sensible like a good network TV series. Otherwise, he’s probably more likely to be hired as a personal trainer than as a leading man.

Elizabeth Reaser
One of the older members of the cast, Reaser has a pretty good film and TV career happening already, appearing as Charlize Theron’s nemesis in “Young Adult” and more recently in a recurring role on “The Good Wife.” It helps that “Twilight” demanded very little of her; Esme, the Cullen matriarch, is one of the most overlooked characters in the series, and one of the least glamorous bloodsuckers of all time. No, really: Her super-power is basically looking like a print model in Mormon Living magazine. Even so, with no future gigs listed on IMDB, it appears Reaser may be taking some time off to revel in her good fortune (read: Scrooge-diving in piles and piles of money).

Ashley Greene
This is one actress who has yet to truly catch a break in Hollywood, despite key appearances in one of the most successful series ever. The vivacity that Greene brought to the role of Alice never quite leaped off the screen the way the written character’s leaped off the page, but that’s hardly her fault. Neither is it her fault that the period drama “Pan Am” never made it off the runway. She has a couple of interesting movies coming up: the star-studded “CBGB,” and a suspense film called “Random” in which we’ll get to try her out as a leading lady in her own right. Greene would happily (and perhaps more ably) flesh out about half the roles that are offered to her on-screen sister-in-law Kristen Stewart.

Kellan Lutz
Lutz is a stand-out because he can do (and will do and has done) just about anything. He’s providing the physical and vocal talent for an upcoming Tarzan adaptation, and he’s got more projects listed in pre-production than most actors twice as well-known. You can bet that pretty much any role that comes Taylor Lautner’s way will have first been turned down by Lutz. Call it revenge for being scuttled to the background of nearly every scene in the “Twilight” series while Lautner lapped up screen time. Oh, and his abs ain’t bad either.

Peter Facinelli
Here’s another one who worked like a dog during every non-”Twilight”-dominated  moment of the last five years, mostly on the series “Nurse Jackie.” Now that Peter Facinelli has tasted freedom, he’ll be turning up in movies with intense titles like “Freezer” and “Gallows Hill” and possibly something called “The Absinthe Drinkers.” Facinelli was one of the franchise’s eldest cast-members, but was still saddled with playing an immortal. It must be quite a relief to no longer find himself being spackled from nips to noggin with that pale, age-concealing (well, sort-of) pancake makeup.

Michael Sheen
“Twilight” needed Michael Sheen more than he needed “Twilight,” though he sure seemed to enjoy leaving fang-marks on all the scenery as the villainous Aro. It must have seemed old-hat to him, after playing a werewolf in the “Underworld” series. Suffice to say that he’s well set up with fun character roles in everything from the TV movie “Masters of Sex” to the adaptation of the kids book Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box. Listening to him try to spin an elaborate defense of his demented giggle-fit in “Breaking Dawn: Part 2″ makes me love him all the more.

Anna Kendrick
Anna Kendrick’s heavy lifting in the series was confined to the first film, back when Bella actually had human friends. Because of this she’s got a post-”Twilight” resume as long as your arm, including upcoming features like the romantic comedy “Drinking Buddies” and some kind of apocalyptic farce called “Rapturepalooza.”

Dakota Fanning
I’m sorry to report that Fanning actually was torn apart by wolves during the filming of that scene in “Breaking Dawn: Part 2.” Her family’s legal team agreed that the gruesome footage could be used in the finished product as a memorial to the young star, on the condition that a sizeable donation would be made in her name to the Humane Society.

Tags: Anna Kendrick, Breaking Dawn, Breaking Dawn Part 2, Kristen Stewart, Twilight