Howard Sorry For Lefevre's 'Unfortunate' Twilight Exit

Lefevre plays villainous vampire Victoria in the first two movies of the bloodsucking franchise but was left "stunned" and "deeply hurt" when studio executives at Summit Entertainment announced she would be replaced by Howard for the third film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

Producers claimed Lefevre failed to tell them in advance that she had signed up to star in an independent movie and that shooting on the project would overlap with production on Eclipse.

And Howard admits she was shocked by the furore around Lefevre's departure from the movie series, and she's hoping she will be able to carry on her predecessor's good work.

She tells The Examiner, "Rachelle really created an incredible character and is exquisite. I feel like the uproar that occurred was really appropriate, because part of the joy of seeing a franchise, it’s almost like a television series. You’ve seen the actors grow with the franchise. And (Lefevre’s) unavailability (for Eclipse) was really, really, really unfortunate.

"She won that role for a reason. I hope to honour everything that she created."