Henry Cavill Reacts to Being Stephenie Meyer’s Dream Edward Cullen

Hold on tight for this revelation, spider monkeys: Henry Cavill could’ve been Edward Cullen.

Though the actor didn’t know about the movie’s existence, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer once envisioned him as her “perfect Edward.” However, per a 2007 post on her blog, she was disappointed to find that then 24-year-old Cavill wasn’t the right age for her vampire protagonist.

Speaking on the Oct. 26 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Cavill said he wasn’t even aware he was Meyer’s personal casting choice.

“I didn’t know about the movie,” Cavill said. “I didn’t know about them wanting to cast me and the internet wasn’t quite the tool that it is now and so I only found out afterwards.”

What was his reaction to hearing the news? He added, “I was like, ‘Oh OK, that would have been cool.'”

Other actors Meyer had in mind to play Edward—who she noted in her blog was “indisputably the most difficult character to cast”—included Tom Sturridge and Logan Lerman.