Comic-Con 2012: ‘Twilight’ Panel Gives Vampire Finale Emotional Sendoff

The Twilight Saga is coming to close this fall with Breaking Dawn Part 2, and Summit’s Hall H panel straddled the line of winding down the popular series, an emotion facing fans and the cast, but also hyping up the final installment.

Summit revved up the crowd by screening seven minutes of the movie, showing Kristen Stewart’s Bella Swan dealing with being a vampire, facing her bloodlust and killing a mountain lion. To no great surprise, the clip was very warmly received.

Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, newcomer Mackenzie Foy and author Stephenie Meyer drew screams and were joined on stage by castmembers Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz, Ashley Green and Jackson Rathbone.

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Reed seemed to choke up when she said, “I’m felling sensitive right now because it’s coming to an end. … We were kids when we started, and we’re growing into adults. I think it’s cool to walk away having grown with people.”

Facinelli said he was walking away with two major memories. “One is fun events like this,” he said. “Fans and how you support us, staying with us for this whole ride. I feel I should scream for you. The cast — getting to experience them and getting to know them. It’s like taking a road trip with your family.

Stewart, who appeared nicely relaxed and more comfortable than in previous public appearances, was less sanguine about the series ending.

“We got live in this world for a long time,” she said. “But it feels good. It feels like, ‘Yes, we did it, yes we finished!’ It’s bittersweet.” 

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Also in a move to distance herself from Twilight, Meyers said she is pursuing a new book idea that was not going to have any bloodsuckers in it. “I’m kinda burned out on vampires right now,” she said. “I know you don’t want to hear that … but I like this new idea, and we’re going to pursue it.”

The panel had many cute and lighthearted moments, even inspirational; one fan told Lautner that the actor inspired him to lose weight, dropping from 300 pounds to 215, and asked for training advice. 

The panel started off with Comic-Con director of marketing and public relations David Glanzer offering heartfelt condolences to the family of the Twilight fan who was the killed in a traffic accident earlier this week, adding that fans should watch over their friends. The moderator of the panel also offered his sympathies before bringing out the cast.

The panel finished off with Meyers showing off several minutes of Andrew Niccol’s adaptation of her sci-fi oriented novel The Host.

The footage, which was blurred in the beginning, showed Saoirse Ronan as a young woman taken by an alien, making her eyes a bright blue. It set up an America taken over by these “hosts”  chasing down a human resistance while driving a silver Lotus and flying silver helicopters.

The footage jumped around quite a bit story-wise but was well-received.