The Real Reason Hollywood Stopped Hiring Taylor Lautner After Twilight

Two-thirds of the Twilight leads blasted off into long, interesting careers. The other third? Taylor Lautner has been stuck in park. Here is how we got here, why it got messy, and what he is trying next.

The moment the momentum broke

Right as Twilight was peaking, Lautner jumped into John Singleton's 2011 action thriller Abduction. It did a little over $80 million at the box office and got a 5% on Rotten Tomatoes. Translation: the movie did not make him Hollywood's next action guy.

Critics were brutal in a way that is rare for a young star trying to rebrand.

"[He] can't carry a movie any more than Abigail Breslin can carry a refrigerator."

One reviewer joked the film only goes down with a 'controlled substance.' And The New York Times' Stephen Holden took a blowtorch to Lautner's screen presence, calling him 'opaque' and comparing him to 'an advanced robot simulating human speech without registering emotion or even comprehension.'

After Twilight: a sputter instead of a second act

Post-Breaking Dawn in 2012, Lautner worked, but nothing caught fire. Tracers (2015) landed better than Abduction critically, but it only played in U.S. theaters for a single day and did not move the needle overseas. He popped up in The Ridiculous 6, Run the Tide, and Home Team, all of which came and went without building a new lane for him. On the brighter side, he had solid TV stretches with main roles on Cuckoo and Scream Queens.

Meanwhile, Stewart and Pattinson zigged early

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson peeled off from the franchise persona fast. Stewart dove into Adventureland and The Runaways; Pattinson went for Water for Elephants and Remember Me and then kept swinging for interesting, director-driven projects. That early repositioning mattered. Lautner never quite made that pivot stick.

The off-screen friction that did not help

There were business-side headaches too. Back in the day, The Hollywood Reporter said Lautner's high-profile publicist Robin Baum dropped him within three months, reportedly because Lautner's father, Daniel, was difficult to work with. Around the same period, after the final Twilight movie, Lautner and his reps were said to be aiming high on salary. That is understandable after headlining a mega-franchise, but it can spook producers if the box office does not back it up.

"A brilliant job of convincing Hollywood that he's the next big movie star."

That is how one production executive described his agency's push to Vulture. Lautner reportedly made $5 million for Abduction. Big quote, big spotlight, big expectations.

Is he still stuck as Jacob?

The typecasting cloud never fully lifted. As one agent put it in 2015:

"It's not easy to move out of the shadow of a hit like Twilight. But he's still very young. There's time for Taylor to become more than just Jacob."

A decade later, it is fair to say that 'time' has not done the heavy lifting for him.

The work, at a glance

• 2011: Abduction — a little over $80M worldwide, 5% on RT, critical takedown
• 2012: The Twilight Saga ends with Breaking Dawn
• 2015: Tracers — better received, but a one-day U.S. theatrical run; international returns underwhelmed
• 2015: The Ridiculous 6 — widely panned, minimal career impact
• 2016: Run the Tide — limited release, low visibility
• 2022: Home Team — came and went quietly on streaming
• TV: Main roles on Cuckoo and Scream Queens

What he is doing next

The meta plan is to lean into the thing that made him famous. Amazon MGM Studios has Taylor Lautner: Werewolf Hunter on the way, with Lautner playing himself. The show frames his time out of the spotlight as prep for a new calling: tracking werewolves. He joins a secret society of werewolf hunters, lives a double life (actor by day, supernatural warrior by night), and battles the irony of chasing the creatures that turned him into a teen icon. No release date yet.

There is also a romcom: The Token Groomsman, from writer-director Natalie Simpkins. Lautner plays Scott, a career-first guy invited to a luxe wedding as a groomsman who cannot remember who the groom is. Eventually, he has to pick between money and love. The cast includes Kane Brown, Sarah Hyland, and more.

Could one of these be the reset? Honestly, the werewolf show is a clever swing because it flips the typecast into a bit. If it is actually funny and self-aware, that could help. The romcom, meanwhile, will come down to charm and chemistry — the same stuff Abduction could not buy with a $5 million paycheck.