It’s been a while since we heard anything about the future of the Divergent series after the previous installment, 2016’s Allegiant, was released in cinemas. Lots of rumours have circulated about what direction the franchise would take and it looks like we may have some answers this week.
While still in the “early stages” of development, Deadline states that Ascendant is set to find a new home with Starz and that the conclusion is being written and executive produced by Adam Cozad (Tarzan) and directed by Age of Adaline helmer Lee Toland Krieger, both of whom were attached the film version was planned.
The series began life on the big screen in 2014 with Divergent, based on the hit novels by Veronica Roth, which wowed audiences as part of the young-adult explosion at the time and grossed almost $290million at the worldwide box office. Then in 2015 the sequel, Insurgent, was just as big and grossed just shy of $300million but the series and indeed the sub-genre had begun to wane and by the time Allegiant made it to cinemas, it fell flat with negative reviews and a box office at just a fraction of that of those that preceded it with only $179million grossed from its $142million budget.
After the box-office failure, Lionsgate shelved plans to film the fourth film and the series was instead set to jump to the small screen to be concluded. This move made many of the stars, including Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies), Theo James (War on Everyone), Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver), Zoe Kravitz (Big Little Lies) and Miles Teller (Thank You For Your Service), unsure of their futures with the series in disarray.
Originally, Ascendant was scheduled for release on June 10th, 2017 but no new dates have yet been announced for the television finale. Watch this space.
