Taylor Lautner is best remembered for playing Jacob Black in the Twilight Saga, but he wasn’t the only actor interested in the role, and he was almost recast when New Moon was in development. Author Stephenie Meyer decided to give a twist to vampires and werewolves and in 2005 introduced readers to Twilight, set in a world where they coexisted with humans. The core of the story was the romance between human Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen, with werewolf Jacob Black in-between.
Twilight was followed by three novels – New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn – and they all made the jump to the big screen between 2008 and 2012, with Breaking Dawn being split into two films. The Twilight Saga expanded the novels’ fanbase and became very popular and successful, boosting the careers of the main cast, even if some of them weren’t big fans of the impact that Twilight had in their lives. Twilight found its Edward Cullen in Robert Pattinson, its Bella Swan in Kristen Stewart, and its Jacob Black in Taylor Lautner.
Given the popularity of the novels, many actors were interested in the roles of Edward, Bella, and Jacob, and for the latter, Taylor Lautner had some interesting competition – but not just before Twilight was released, as he was almost recast when New Moon was in pre-production.
Twilight: Michael Copon Almost Replaced Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black
Jacob Black is introduced in Twilight, but he goes through a big transformation in New Moon, as his werewolf nature is finally revealed. With that in mind, New Moon director Chris Weitz considered replacing Taylor Lautner with someone who could portray the “new, larger Jacob Black” more accurately as he wasn’t sure Lautner could bulk up, and Michael Copon was in consideration for the role. Though Copon wasn’t exactly a newcomer, he had only been part of small productions in both film and TV, and New Moon could have been his big break. However, Lautner weight-trained extensively to gain the muscle weight that the character required, and so he kept the role.
Prior to the possible recast, when Twilight was in development, Tyler Posey auditioned for the role of Jacob Black. Posey had appeared in films like Collateral Damage and Maid in Manhattan, and even though he didn’t get the role of Jacob Black, he ended up playing a werewolf in MTV’s Teen Wolf. Although Twilight was Lautner’s big break, he has been taking it slow ever since, appearing in the films Grown Ups 2, Tracers, The Ridiculous 6, and Run the Tide, and most recently in the series Scream Queens and Cuckoo. Lautner proved that he could play a role as physically demanding as Jacob Black, which will hopefully keep opening various doors for him in the future.