The Jacob casting issue had been a hot one for on-line fans of Stephenie Meyer’s TWILIGHT book franchise, some of whom believed Lautner to be too slightly built to play Jacob in NEW MOON; in the novel, the lycanthropic character bulks up and enters into a romantic relationship with teen heroine Bella. “The characters in Stephenie’s books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance,” director Chris Weitz wrote on Meyer’s website, “so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob.”

Weitz takes over for TWILIGHT director Catherine Hardwicke at the helm of NEW MOON, for which Kristen Stewart returns as Bella and Robert Pattinson is back as her vampire beau Edward. Word is that, thanks to the heartthrob status Pattinson attained in the first film, Edward’s role is being expanded from the book for the screen. Does that mean Jacob will wind up sidelined? Millions of tweens await the answer…