It sure looks like it! My man in the Twilight zone, James, wrote on a long abandoned thread to share that Lionsgate, the company which owns the film and teevee rights to the Meyer novels. See The Hollywood Reporter piece, ‘Twilight’ TV Series in the Works (Exclusive) — Lionsgate Television is in early development on a series that could bring author Stephenie Meyer’s book series back to life after the wildly successful movies.

James thinks this is the key paragraph in the article:

The timing of the Twilight series comes as HBO Max recently confirmed that it was in early development of a Harry Pottertelevision adaptation with plans for a decade-long run of J.K. Rowling’s beloved book series with the controversial author attached as an executive producer. Genre programming continues to remain in high demand as Amazon last year launched a new take on The Lord of the Rings, with Warner Bros. Discovery also planning on making new installments of the feature films based on the J.R.R. Tolkien works.

I get it! The timing more than hints that there is a link here, if only in why a Twilight teevee show rumor created sufficient cause to report it as a story.

I think the more interesting angle on the show’s possibilities, though, was this idea:

Sinead Daly, whose credits include Tell Me Lies, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Raised by Wolves, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Get Down, is attached to write the script for Twilight. Sources say Daly is working with Lionsgate TV to determine what the specific take on Twilight will be and if it will be a remake of Meyer’s books or a different offshoot.

Meyer is reported to be involved in the project (duh), and, given her penchant for Orson Scott Card, it would be credible to think this version of the story might be told from another character’s perspective, Edward and his ‘father’ being the most obvious choices.

I’m excited about this rumor, which I hope is true, because it promises, if true and successful (top those conditions!), simultaneously to revitalize interest in Meyers’ work, Twilight and beyond, and to generate small screen treatments of favorite series. I’m thinking of the Chronicles of Narnia and the Ransom Trilogy, but fill in your favorite multi-volume work here — unless you’re a Divergent fan and the mention of ‘Lionsgate’ makes you shudder from the memory of their failed promises.

There has been a countdown page at Stephenie Meyer’s Fickle Fish Films Facebook page the last thirty days and today we at last got the payoff. It was announced that the long awaited Midnight Sun, the Edward Cullen perspective of the events in Twilight, the first book in the Forks Saga, will be published on 4 August 2020.

This manuscript has an interesting history. Meyer was writing it in 2008 when beta chapters, the first twelve, were released by her trusted readers to the internet. She then gave up on writing the book and put up a pdf of the draft chapters on her website. That draft is not available this morning at StephenieMeyer.com (check here to see if it is now). She talked about it again in 2015 but balked at publication.

Read the news about the new Twilight at The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Today. The TwiHards on Twitter, of course, are losing their minds with excitement. Me? I’m looking forward to it, frankly, for two reasons.

First, I’ve read the Midnight Sun draft chapters and more than once. It was an important part of my writing Spotlight: A Close Up Look at the Artistry and Meaning of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. I’d love to read, to experience Jacob’s perspective on the finale in the room of mirrors. I’m a fan and a serious reader of the series; of course I want to read the complete Midnight Sun. I have a three ring binder on my Twilight shelf with a print out of the drafts.

Last, Meyer is a student, nay, a disciple of Orson Scott Card, the other best-selling Latter-day Saint writer of our times. Her favorite book is Speaker for the Dead, part of Card’s Ender’s Game series, and she claims to have read at least twice everything Card has written. Check out his bibliography to understand what that means. One of Card’s signature moves? Re-telling stories from his various series from the perspective of other characters in that story.

My only question is, “Why now?” Besides it being International Star Wars Day (‘May the Fourth Be With You’). Is it the fifteenth anniversary of Twilight’s release? Or the failure of Meyer’s other books to take off?  I doubt sales of her The Host or The Chemist will ever approach those of Twilight or even pay back her advance from hopeful publishers. Or is that just a cheap shot at a target that is more abused than given her due?

Let me know your thoughts on Midnight Sun in the comment boxes below. Hat-tip to James, my contact in Twilight fandom, for letting me know about the count-down page and this morning’s announcement.