Ascendant

Why yes, Lionsgate is still trying to keep the Divergent franchise Ascendant. A TV continuation of the films has officially landed in development at Starz, as written, executive produced and directed by the original film team.

A soft plateau to the Divergent film franchise gave way to finishing Ascendant as a TV movie, though stars like Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Miles Teller quickly offered their doubts on participating in a TV wrap-up. Now, Woodley affirms the finality of her distance from the project, despite an upcoming TV role.

It’s been some time since Lionsgate offered any update on the Divergent franchise; last eyed to complete Ascendant as a TV movie while launching a small-screen extension of the series. Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller have both offered their doubts on participating in the TV wrap-up, and we can now add Theo James among the chorus of stars unwilling to carry on continuity.

There’s still plenty to figure out with regard to the Divergent films wrapping up their final chapter with a TV movie, and potentially spinning into a new series from there, but it looks like Tris may be leaving the faction. Pressed if she might take part in the TV film, Shailene Woodley told reporters “I didn’t sign up to be in a television show.”

Lionsgate recently announced that the final film in the Divergent series will skip theaters entirely and head straight to television, with additional plans to launch a spinoff series. Although the franchise has suffered diminishing returns at the box office, news of the Ascendant TV movie and (possible) spinoff was still a bit surprising to everyone — including Miles Teller, who seems somewhat hesitant about this whole television business.

In hindsight, the title Ascendant was probably a mistake.

The first Divergent movie did OK in theaters, owing much of its success to the YA post-apocalyptic craze and the popularity of stars Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller. But the subsequent installments saw diminishing returns, with the third film, Allegiant, taking a major hit at the box office — possibly because audiences had YA fatigue, or maybe because the story just wasn’t that compelling. Whatever the case may be, the final Divergent film will skip past theaters and head direct-to-television, with plans to launch a spinoff series.

It had to happen eventually: the post-apocalyptic YA bubble has finally popped, and Hollywood has begun to panic as it realizes that it’s hit a point of diminishing returns. Allegiant, the third installment of the Divergent franchise that was supposed to launch Shailene Woodley to A-list ubiquity and grant Lionsgate another box-office bonanza in the tradition of their highly lucrative Hunger Games franchise, did not perform as expected. That may be putting it lightly, too — this past weekend, the film opened to a pitiful $29.1 million, dwarfed in comparison against the film’s bloated $110 million budget.

A few weeks back, Divergent series director Robert Schwentke abruptly dropped out of the final sequel, Ascendant, a little over a month before the latest installment hits theaters. With Allegiant on the horizon and one more Divergent sequel to go, Lionsgate has quickly found Schwentke’s replacement in Age of Adaline director Lee Toland Krieger.

Robert Schwentke has pulled out of the Divergent franchise before he could begin production on Ascendant. The director has already helmed Insurgent and gotten Allegiant, set for a March 18 release, in the can.