Henry Cavill lost two major franchise roles to Robert Pattinson

When it comes to actors who have multiple big-name franchises under their belt, few can compete like Robert Pattinson and Henry Cavill. Pattinson played the doomed Hufflepuff Cedric Diggory in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, the brilliant vampire Edward Cullen in the “Twilight” films and the most brooding Batman of all time in “The Batman”, earning an important hat trick in the franchise. . Meanwhile, Cavill played Superman in Zack Snyder’s DC films, August Walker in “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s “The Witcher” series, and even had a cameo as a version of Wolverine in “Deadpool & Wolverine”. ” (And that’s not even counting the fact that he also played Sherlock Holmes in the Netflix “Enola Holmes” movies and was in a “Hellraiser” sequel!) Both men have major star power despite their very different from acting and fame, and it turns out that one time, Pattinson ended up getting two different roles that could have otherwise gone to Cavill.

Just hearing that the two were potentially up for some of the same franchise roles leads one to wonder how they would fare in each other’s shoes (Pattinson could be a killer Geralt, but Superman? He never could). As fun as it is, they were actually both young actors starting out and Pattinson ended up being right for the role. But in another universe? We almost saw Henry Cavill as Edward and Cedric.

According to old blog posts by “Twilight” author Stephanie Meyer, which were discovered by the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via GQ UK) in a chat with Cavill, the author originally wanted Cavill to play the film version of Edward Cullen, but he dropped out of the race as a potential sparklepire when he reached the ripe old age of 24.

In his blog posts from July 2007, Meyer laments Cavill’s aging because he couldn’t consider an Edward older than 21, saying, “The most disappointing thing for me is losing my perfect Edward. Henry Cavill is now twenty-four.” . old man, let’s have a quiet moment to cry…” A few months later, Pattinson, who was barely reaching the age threshold, was announced as Edward. Meyer also liked the idea of ​​Cavill playing Carlisle Cullen, the father adoptive of the Cullen vampire clan, a role that ultimately went to “Nurse Jackie” star Peter Facinelli Perhaps he may get the chance to play a Cullen in the proposed (and perhaps ill-advised) revival of. “Twilight.” Fortunately, there appears to be no bad blood between Cavill and Pattinson, as Cavill explained:

“I didn’t know they wanted to cast me and the internet wasn’t the tool it is now, so I only found out later. I thought, ‘Oh, okay, that would have been cool.'”

Cavill also auditioned for the role of Cedric Diggory in “Harry Potter,” but Pattinson’s audition was apparently a little more magical, because the role went to him. Because he was apparently set to play Superman in James Gunn’s DCEU, Cavill joked that maybe there would be a showdown between Batman and Superman in the future to take care of the “rivalries,” but these days, it looks like that won’t happen either. will happen. .

Cavill’s tenure as Superman appears all but over, with David Corenswet donning the cape for the foreseeable future of the DC Universe, also exiting as Geralt, having been replaced for the final season by the talented little brother of Thor, star of “The Hunger Games”, Liam Hemsworth. . However, he’s still involved in “Enola Holmes 3,” reprising his role as the young detective’s famous father, and is also working on a “Voltron” movie, a “Highlander” reboot and an adaptation of “Warhammer 40,000” for Amazon. It looks like Cavill fans will be eating well, with plenty of big franchise projects on the way.

Pattinson has tended more toward independent and arthouse projects since the end of his time as Edward, trying to leave the young adult franchise behind, so the only major franchise in his future is as Bruce Wayne/Batman in “The Batman: Part II”. ” planned for a 2026 release. Fortunately, he also continues to give strange and wild performances, like Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming film, “Mickey 17.” Whether you’re interested in seeing Cavill reload his guns and look handsome or see Pattinson glides across the stage like a strange little elf, the future looks bright.