SPOILERS are ahead for Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2.
There are some moviegoing experiences one never forgets, and the end of Breaking Dawn Part 2 certainly makes the list of one of my core memories gazing up at a big screen after being a fan of the Twilight books and movies as a teen. I was on a vacation during the Thanksgiving holiday week in the desert, but obviously I had to catch the last Twilight movie with fellow fans on opening night. So, we found a super late screening (because that’s all they had in those days) and watched the final film of the vampire saga. I swear, my tired self thought I was hallucinating when I watched Carlisle getting beheaded and the a surprise battle scene played out. “That wasn’t in the book” raced through my mind and my jaw proceeded to be dropped for the rest of the movie’s runtime.
It’s not easy to pull off a mind-blowing plot twist in a movie, but Breaking Dawn Part 2 was able to give Twilight fans like myself something surprising to be stunned by, thanks to the clever ending. And yes, Stephenie Meyer was involved. If you were ever curious about the story behind the movie’s ending, sit back and read on…
What Happens At The End Of Breaking Dawn
Before I get into how the ending came about, it’s time to refresh your memory about what happened in Breaking Dawn Part 2. After Kristen Stewart’s Bella becomes a vampire, the storyline didn’t go right to a happy ending.
The Book’s Ending
At the end of the Breaking Dawn book, the Volturi decide to leave the Cullens alone after they are getting ready for a fight. In the very last chapter of Breaking Dawn “The Happily Ever After,” Edward Cullen shares that the Volturi leader, Aro, was “terrified of Bella” and her vampire mind shield powers, along with the fact that they were outnumbered by the additional vampires and werewolves assembled by the Cullens. Alice “gave Aro the excuse he needed to get out of the fight” per the book’s words.
The book suggests the Volturi may be back someday, but the Cullens are confident they can outsmart them again whenever that happens. And in terms of Edward and Bella, they live happily ever after “forever and forever and forever” as Edward mutters on the last page.
The Movie’s Ending
In the 2012 franchise closer, things go down a little differently. The Cullens have assembled a ton of vampires and werewolves to fight the Volturi, but at first a fight does appear to break out, and there’s a ton of casualties including Carlisle’s head being severed by Aro, Dakota Fanning’s Jane getting decimated by a werewolf and Aro being killed off by Edward and Bella. The scene is framed as reality (hence my shock) before it’s revealed that the scene was simply a vision of Alice Cullen (who can see the future), that she was sharing with Aro on the battlefield. Then, the Volturi stand down, and Edward and Bella get their big screen send off.
Stephenie Meyer Apparently Had Doubts About How The Breaking Dawn Ending Could Work For The Movie
While I was absolutely shocked when the Breaking Dawn Part 2 twist ending initially played out, among comparing and contrasting how the finale plays out, I’ve always found the movie version to be a clever solution to a bit of an anticlimactic ending to a four book series (from a visual standpoint anyway). If the Breaking Dawn ending had been adapted beat by beat, it would be a 20-minute sequence of vampires initially talking in a field (it was a 68-page showdown in the novel).
Apparently Stephenie Meyer knew this about her ending, too, and even debated whether to give the rights to Summit to make a movie for this reason. Per screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg to Buzzfeed:
Before I signed on, and before Stephenie had even given the rights to Summit to do the fourth book – she was debating whether she wanted to give them the rights, because she knew you couldn’t do that ending. She knew that it wasn’t cinematic. But she was afraid it would turn into something that wasn’t the book. That it would have to be so altered in order to be cinematic that she wouldn’t want to do it.
Can you imagine if the Twilight saga had just ended with Eclipse? The fans needed an ending, and luckily Rosenberg met with Meyer about a new ending.
Then, Meyer And Twilight’s Screenwriter Thought Of A New Ending To The Saga Together
In the same interview, Melissa Rosenberg shared that she and Stephenie Meyer “both came up” with the twist ending together. Here’s how it came about:
We were up here in Vancouver having a steak dinner, just socially, it wasn’t a work dinner. And we started talking about it, and neither one of us can remember whose idea it was to do this for the ending? It may have been her, she may have said, I have a terrible idea. Not so terrible! I started getting really excited about it. It was at that moment we realized that was the solution to it.
Isn’t it neat that Stephenie Meyer was so involved? I really love when changes made in movie versions of books get the go ahead by authors, because sometimes even they have ways they want to update the source material. Especially for the film medium. Director Bill Condon said this to Vulture about the alterations:
The reason why I think it works is that it’s within the universe of what Stephenie created, and it could as well have been the way it went down in that book, you know? You understand why she wouldn’t have spent all that time writing a battle, but again, it honors the ultimate outcome.
It’s a great point, because Stephenie Meyer wasn’t really the “writing battles” type, but from a movie standpoint, it was awesome to see vampires and werewolves in action.
The Filmmakers Had A Blast Crafting The Battle… And Deciding Who To Kill First
Once Meyer, Rosenberg and Condon were all on board for the twist, it was time to craft the scene. Check out what the director also told Vulture about how it all started for him:
When I got involved, it was just a sentence, ‘There’s a battle.’ But then it was fun to actually come up with it. That was, I would say, the biggest thing I worked on for two years. [The most fun part was] deciding who to kill!
Going back to Melissa Rosenberg’s Buzzfeed interview at the time, she was the one who decided it would be Carlisle who would get the first “death”. In her words:
My approach to it was the very first person who’s killed in the vision has to be someone who incites the war. Who is the most impactful to die? And that was Carlisle. The minute he’s dead, the minute he’s set on fire, the entire band launches into it. I tried to kill a bunch of people. There are a couple of choices: who’s going to die, how are they going to die, and who’s going to kill the bad guys. I had a much longer sequence initially. Everyone was dying. It just became unwieldy and slowed the pace down. I know I sat there first and just killed people.
What a fun job for Rosenberg. Condon also offered more insight on who was on the chopping block when they were creating the shocking sequence:
Obviously, all the bad guys get wiped out and that’s satisfying, but as for the good guys, I think the first one I wanted to kill was Seth. The idea of using that pain on an animal, I think that’s more powerful because we’ve seen Jane do that to other creatures before, other vampires and humans. And then the ones you don’t expect like Carlisle and Jasper, you know, those were the ones that would have the biggest ‘oomph’ and surprise.
Even though Meyer originally signed on to the idea, she did have some thoughts about who would die in the vision. Bringing us to this next point.
At First, Meyer Wasn’t Totally Behind All The Decisions For The Battle Scene
Writing and executing the scene wasn’t without some pushback from Meyer. In a Los Angeles Times written article at the time of release, Bill Condon spoke to some of the conversations he had with the Twilight author.
I wanted to kill all the major Volturi (which we ultimately did). Stephenie was nervous that if we wiped them out the audience would have been upset that it was merely Alice’s vision. She wanted to kill many fewer Volturi, wipe out Emmett and Rosalie and some others on the Cullen side. I didn’t agree.
Of course, ultimately, they came to a compromise and we got the excellent scene in Breaking Dawn Part 2 that had me (and tons of other fans) on the floor opening weekend. Stephenie Meyer said this to same publication about the scene staying in the spirit of what she wrote in her bestselling Twilight conclusion:
The battle is exactly what Aro saw. There’s a moment in the novel when he’s staring at Bella and she’s looking back at him and feeling this assessment. And then everything turns. But we can’t see what he’s seeing. But what he’s seeing is, ‘It’s going to be a close fight, a lot of people are going to die and I’m probably going to die. I’m going to die.’ And for him, in my mind, the Volturi win the day. They do. They outnumber you. They would win. But they would be decimated. Their power would be crippled, and he realizes he’s not going to survive it and that’s what changes his mind… We had Alice get involved so we could visually show it, but it’s all still there.
Technically, it is true to the book, but with the added factor of Alice’s vision to really illustrate what would happen if they fought.
Twilight Fans Went Wild For The Breaking Dawn Twist Ending
That brings us back to the fans. The scene was very satisfying for fans because of how unexpected it was (and well executed). When the movie turned ten a couple of years ago, Taylor Lautner said this to CinemaBlend about fan reactions:
Holy crap. Yeah, I’m remembering that moment as you say it. That was insane. There were thousands of fans in the theater watching that movie, maybe downtown at Nokia, I think. And yeah, the plot twist moment… people were screaming, crying, just hysterical, thinking ‘What is going on?!’ Yeah, that was crazy.
Fans still love talking about it, too. Here’s one Twitter reaction:
Remember when Twilight played us all during Breaking Dawn Part II and had us thinking that Carlisle, Jasper, and Seth died in battle?! I had a whole breakdown haha when I realized it was a vision I was like: pic.twitter.com/lmEtWHgdUAMay 6, 2020
Another person said their “favorite audience reaction” in a theater was actually this scene. Check it:
i have never in my life heard a theater erupt into louder screams of outrage and utter SHOCK than when Carlisle’s head was ripped off in Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part II followed by the same reaction AGAIN 15 minutes later when it all turned out to just be a vision in Alice’s head https://t.co/x8ikbacy4sApril 3, 2019
And, here’s one more:
No movie has ever gave me that feeling that the plot twist in twilight did. That shit in the theater for the very first time was INSANE 😂 whole theater was devastated.August 4, 2024
Well, there you have it! There’s the story behind that wild twist ending for Breaking Dawn Part 2. I’m not sure if any upcoming book to screen adaptations will match the surprise of this, but hey, it’s another reason why the Twilight saga is so iconic.