Robert Pattinson felt like his individuality was overlooked while playing Edward Cullen in the wildly successful Twilight series.
The actor spoke to Zendaya, his costar in upcoming A24 movie The Drama in a new story for for Interview Mag, where he recalled his time in the five-part Twilight series. The English actor played Cullen, a vampire, opposite Kristen Stewart (who he previously dated), who played protagonist Bella Swan.
Due to the series being an adaptation of the popular novels written by Stephanie Meyer and having a massive teen fan base, Twilight was a cultural phenomenon during the early 2010s. But Pattinson’s portrayal of Cullen nearly defined him before he transitioned into independent films and later back into major commercial roles like 2022 action flick The Batman.
“When I was doing Twilight, there was such a cultural pushback against it, almost simultaneous to its success, so I kind of had to ride both things,” Pattinson told Zendaya. “I really enjoyed making the movies, but then there was such a huge marketing push behind it as well.”
“I didn’t want to get my personal identity caught up in that, so I tried to push forward my individuality a little, and that kind of stuck with me,” he continued. “It was also interesting getting famous off of playing a part—people thought I was that character in the beginning.”
Pattinson added that the experience was “quite strange,” but he was able to “push against” being pigeonholed.
“Also, I wasn’t precious about that identity because it wasn’t my identity to begin with,” he admitted. “It’s interesting to use the public perception of you as part of your character development, because you’re like, ‘I assume at least a few people in the audience are going to be expecting this,’ so you can make it more dramatic. But at the same time, you never really know what people are thinking.”
Pattinson, along with the rest of the original Twilight crew, ended the franchise with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 in 2012. The franchise was intended to have a Netflix animated television show based on Meyer’s Midnight Sun, but no further updates have been publicly announced since 2024.
Stewart, who dated Pattinson throughout their filming of the Twilight series, recently shared that she’s “committed” to remaking at least one film of the franchise.