Divergent wasn’t a massive hit, but with a respectable $285+ million worldwide haul on a budget of $85 million, it’s no surprise that Lionsgate are forging ahead with the series as The Hunger Games winds down.
In a pretty huge sign of confidence, Insurgent (the Divergent sequel which is set to be released next March) director Robert Schwentke has signed a deal to helm the third instalment in the franchise, The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Part 1. The filmmaker’s other film credits include Flightplan, Red and R.I.P.D.
Divergent director Neil Burger walked away from the series due to the tight schedule on filming the sequel.
Allegiant reaches cinemas on March 18th, 2016, with Part 2 following a year later. This isn’t the first time the studio have split a final book in half as they did the same with both Twilight and The Hunger Games. It all started with Harry Potter of course, so them doing this for Veronica Roth’s novel is hardly a surprise!
We can’t say too much about Allegiant of course as that would spoil Insurgent, but it’s been described as featuring Shailene Wooldley’s character facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance and love. Theo James, Miles Teller, Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, and Zoe Kravitz are among the cast members returning.
Noah Oppenheim (who is no stranger to YA adaptations after penning Maze Runner) is writing the script.
