You'd think the Twilight saga—glittering vampires, teenage angst, and all—was locked away in its coffin after 2012. But fandoms don't bury their dead so easily. Thirteen years later, Jackson Rathbone still feels the pulse of Jasper Hale beneath the ashes, and he wants another chance to tell the vampire's story—this time without the sparkling romance veneer.
Speaking with Collider's Maggie Lovitt at Fan Expo Canada 2025, Rathbone made it clear: Jasper deserves his own prequel. “I actually would really love to see Jasper's story be told,” the actor said, grinning at the thought of modern de-aging tech making him battle-ready again. He's 40 now, and frankly, the lines on his face might only add to the haunted soldier vibe.
What's striking is Rathbone's openness—if another actor takes the role, he's fine with it. “I'm also open to passing the torch,” he admitted. That humility isn't just PR fluff. It fits the DNA of Jasper, a character born into bloodshed, clawing toward redemption, never fully certain if he belongs with the Cullens or with the monsters he once commanded.
And here's where things get messy. Jasper was a Confederate soldier before being turned into a vampire. That detail alone makes his backstory radioactive in today's climate—yet it's also what gives it teeth. Rathbone didn't shy away from acknowledging Jasper's flaws, stressing that the arc is less about glorifying the past and more about reckoning with it. “It's a story, to me, about redemption… about forgiveness,” he said, adding that Jasper learns to love himself only after seeing himself reflected in others.
There's something deeply horror-coded in Jasper's narrative: a man drenched in war, cursed with insatiable hunger, trying desperately to claw back some semblance of humanity. Strip away the young-adult packaging, and you've got the bones of a Southern Gothic vampire epic—closer to Near Dark than New Moon. Imagine Kathryn Bigelow tackling it with twilight skies and the smell of gunpowder hanging in the air.
Of course, Rathbone's musings are just that—dreams. Summit and Lionsgate haven't announced anything concrete, and Stephanie Meyer has kept quiet on whether she'd revisit Jasper outside the novels. But the appetite's there. Every generation rediscovers Twilight on TikTok, often with equal parts mockery and nostalgia, and Jasper always sparks debate: villain, victim, or something in between?
Maybe that's why Rathbone's comments linger. They're not about franchise fatigue or IP mining; they're about the strange appeal of imperfection. Jasper isn't Edward, all brooding romanticism. He's jagged, uncomfortable, morally ambiguous—exactly the kind of character Hollywood usually buries under sequels, when he's the one who might actually sustain them.
What Stands Out in Rathbone's Jasper Prequel Pitch
Redemption, not romance
Rathbone frames Jasper's story as a meditation on forgiveness and growth rather than star-crossed love.
The Confederate question
Jasper's past as a soldier makes his backstory controversial, but that tension could drive a darker, more honest film.
Actor humility
Rathbone is eager to return but equally open to someone else inheriting the role—a rare attitude in franchise culture.
Horror roots exposed
Jasper's arc has more in common with cult vampire cinema than YA melodrama, and Rathbone seems to recognize that.
Fan pulse still strong
A decade on, Twilight discourse refuses to die. A Jasper prequel would hit the sweet spot between nostalgia and reinvention.
