'New Moon' Star Jackson Rathbone Gives Us Some Major Scoop On Jasper's Role In 'Eclipse'

Team Jasper fans may have been a bit sore about the lack of screen time their favorite Cullen coven member received in the first "Twilight" film, but leave it to the mood-manipulating vamp to ease our fears about the upcoming sequels. MTV News caught up with Jackson Rathbone, the actor behind the beloved bloodsucker, who spilled some major "Eclipse" scoop. Prepare to see Jackson in uniform as a Civil War soldier, his transformation and some seriously cool fight training sequences.

If you've read Stephenie Meyer's third "Twilight Saga" novel, you already know that as a human, Jasper was a highly regarded Confederate soldier during the Civil War — the youngest major in Texas, as a matter of fact. In David Slade's "Eclipse" we not only get to see the actor-musician in the saddle, but the bite that turned him into an undead.

"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."

Even though Jasper becomes a lover not a fighter, that doesn't mean he won't protect his family and the ones they love when threatened. So when Victoria's army of newborn vampires descend on Forks, Jasper uses his Civil War experience to train his family in combat.

"It's interesting; there's a lot of cool scenes where Jasper trains the Cullen family on how to fight the newborns. He gets to train Emmett—and Emmett is a born fighter—so he's telling Emmett all these techniques, and Emmett thinks he could just best Jasper [during their sparring]. Jasper ends up getting the best of him, because it's a war mentality, not just a street brawl. It's about thinking ahead; it's a chess game."

Jasper's no stranger to strategy, and he has a large arsenal of weapons to choose from. He's not only a skilled fighter but has the innate ability to regulate people's emotions. We'll first get to witness this ability in "New Moon" during a school scene. When asked if it will be noticeable, Jackson replied, "In 'New Moon,' when we see it? It's pretty obvious."

Are you excited to see more Jasper (a.k.a Jackson) in the upcoming installments of the "Twilight Saga"?

Tags Eclipse, Jackson Rathbone, New Moon, Twilight, Video