The Divergent Series

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.

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.”

In hindsight, the title Ascendant was probably a mistake.

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.

The world of Divergent is a dystopia divided into five distinct factions: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, and Erudite — plus those who don’t fit neatly into any one faction, who are known as Divergent.

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.