In the November release of second film in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, some characters with limited screen time will see their roles expanded. One popular figure from the books was Jasper Hale, played by Jackson Rathbone, who had a very limited role. That’s about to change. In New Moon and the now filming third installment, Eclipse, Rathbone will have a chance to give depth to his Civil War Era human-turned-mood-altering-vampire.

“I’ve been studying up a lot on the Civil War and that era; it really was a crazy time, it was all-out war on our own turf and between countrymen,” Jackson told MTV News. “It’s an interesting time to see when Jasper was actually human, and what his human form was, and when he gets turned how intense and how dark he is. Then [we'll see] his realization of what he’s become, him finding Alice and being redeemed by love.”

In Eclipse, the Cullen family needs a leader and Jasper steps up to the plate to deliver the fighting techniques they’ll need to defeat Victoria’s army of blood thirsty newborns. Rathbone is given more substance to work with in the coming films and says that fans will get to see Jasper work his emotion calming magic in a school scene in New Moon.