The near-future dystopia offers only one way out for a struggling survivor: television. Divergent: Ascendant, the final part of the flailing franchise that stars Shailene Woodley as a rogue agent fighting an oppressive regime, will premiere as a TV movie instead of opening in cinemas, according to Variety.
The franchise – in trouble since penultimate instalment, Allegiant, stalled at the box office – will conclude with a final chapter that paves the way for a standalone television series set in the same universe. It’s unknown whether Woodley, as well as co-stars Theo James, Zoë Kravitz and Ansel Elgort, will return and the project is yet to be pitched to any network.
Based on the young adult novels by Veronica Roth, the Divergent series tells the story of Tris (Woodley), a young woman living in a futuristic Chicago where the population is divided into factions based on personality type. In the first film, Tris discovered she didn’t fit into any faction and was “Divergent”. She went on to lead a rebellion against the system’s terrifying authoritarian leader, Jeanine (Kate Winslet).
The first two Divergent films – Divergent and Insurgent – were box-office smashes, pulling in over $150m (£113.6m) and $130m in the US respectively. Allegiant’s low take (just over $66m) prompted studio Lionsgate to cut the budget for the franchise’s finale. However, a series of theme parks based on the Divergent films seem to be going ahead as planned.
Lionsgate declined to comment on Variety’s story. Ascendent was due to be released in June 2017. It’s unknown when the planned TV film and series will air.
