10 Actors Who Almost Got Leading Roles in Twilight, Ranked from Weird to Hottest
There were obviously many contenders for Bella, Edward and Jacob’s roles before Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner landed them. We’re breaking down who else was eyed as a lead for the Twilight saga.
It won’t be an exaggeration to say the Twilight movie series has been one of the defining moments of the 2010s’ pop culture, helping Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and many more rise to stardom and launch a pretty successful career in Hollywood.
But there were many other famous contenders who didn’t get the role for all possible reasons — some of them could have looked great in the franchise while others would have made it all pretty weird.
10. Elliot Page
Before Twilight’s casting team went with Kristen Stewart, its members eyed Elliot Page, who came out as transgender back in 2020, for Bella’s role. The original book series’ author Stephanie Meyer even confirmed that she in fact had the actor on her own wish list, though Page never addressed the whole matter anyway.
9. Lily Collins
Several years ago Collins revealed in one of her interviews that she had auditioned for Bella’s role, but never even expected to get it anyway. The actress was a newcomer in Hollywood back then, and the day of her auditioning for Twilight turned out to be one of the most anxious days she’d had during her earlier years.
8. Jamie Campbell Bower
Before he got the role of Volturi leader Caius in New Moon and Breaking Dawn, the actor was considered one of the frontrunners for the role of Edward. However, this time it was Campbell Bower who rejected the opportunity, once revealing that he’d been too busy filming Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street to audition for yet another role in Twilight.
7. Josh Peck
A couple of years back, the actor broke down on his own attempt to become a part of the franchise, saying he actually sent an audition tape and later was told he’d made it to the shortlist of actors to potentially play Edward. However, the role still went to Robert Pattinson.
6. Jackson Rathbone
Another Twilight cast member who still got to be one of the Cullens in the franchise, Rathbone, who portrayed Jasper Hale, initially considered auditioning for Edward’s role. It was revealed later that, just like Peck, he’d made it to the list of four finalists, though the actor acknowledged that no one would be as perfect as Robert Pattinson.
5. Jennifer Lawrence
It was also a couple of years ago that Jennifer Lawrence revealed she’d auditioned for the role of Bella, but never even got a chance and was rejected almost at once. She also admitted the overwhelming success of Twilight and Kristen Stewart’s level of fame made Lawrence question her potential role in The Hunger Games — according to the actress, she never wanted to be the most popular person in the world anyway.
4. Tyler Posey
Teen Wolf’s actor was also eyed for the role of Jacob, but went out of competition when Taylor Lautner showed up. Posey later admitted he was glad the role hadn’t gone to him anyway as he wasn’t prepared for that much fame.
3. Michelle Trachtenberg
Back in 2011, Trachtenberg revealed she was supposed to portray Bella due to the fact that she had a close relationship with the movie’s director. The actress also added she couldn’t make it to the franchise because of her tight shooting schedule, but wasn’t really upset about it since she already had a vampire-themed successful show Buffy the Vampire Slayer under her belt.
2. Henry Cavill
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The actor himself never reached out to Twilight’s casting team, but was believed to be perfect Edward by Stephanie Meyer. Cavill then revealed he didn’t have any idea about it at the time the movie was assembling its leading cast, but admitted it would have been cool to play, well, the coolest vampire in modern cinema.
1. Ben Barnes
The actor was also one of the four frontrunners for Edward’s role and got rejected due to an unexpected, but still good reason. Twilight’s director Catherine Hardwicke once revealed she had been looking for Edward’s signature otherworldly look among the candidates – and though all of them were cute, it was Robert Pattinson who had the advantage.
Starting May 1, the entire Twilight saga is available for streaming on Netflix.
