Why Was the Fourth Divergent Film Cancelled?
I personally read the Divergent series years ago when apocalyptic fiction was all the rage. I remember thinking the Divergent series was a bit similar to the Hunger Games but I enjoyed its politics nonetheless. I even watched all the 3 Divergent films since they released and waited forever for the 4th one…but it never arrived? So what went wrong? I did a bit of digging on the internet to find out why.
The plot is pretty simple. The main character Tris learns she is a Divergent, meaning she doesn’t fit into any one group, leading to her becoming a target. Based on the best-selling YA novels by Veronica Roth, the Divergent series featured a great cast of up and coming actors, including Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Zoe Kravitz, and Bill Skarsgard. While Divergent and its sequel The Divergent Series: Insurgent were solid hits, they didn’t reach the same heights as The Hunger Games, and the future of the franchise was put into question following the underwhelming performance of The Divergent Series: Allegiant in 2016.
After the financial disappointment of The Divergent Series: Allegiant, there were plans made to wrap up the saga with TV movie The Divergent Series: Ascendant, in lieu of a theatrical conclusion. Those plans didn’t come to fruition, and it’s worth exploring why this final movie was canceled. The cast response to this was far from enthusiastic, with Shailene Woodley stating she didn’t sign up for a TV movie and doubted she would return. Co-stars Theo James and Miles Teller later ruled out a TV movie return too.
None of the Divergent cast was interested in making the jump from three big-budget blockbusters to a TV movie, let alone one that acted as a pilot for a potential series. Woodley wanted to return to complete Tris’ story, but only for a theatrical movie. The actress later admitted she was so disappointed with how the saga ended that she considered quitting acting entirely.
While The Divergent Series: Ascendant would have provided closure to the story, making it a TV movie would have been an acknowledgment the series had failed on the big screen. Cast members like Teller and Kravitz were already moving on to bigger roles and projects, so the odds of convincing them to return were always slim. It’s a shame for fans of the franchise that it didn’t get a proper conclusion, and proves The Divergent Series: Allegiant shouldn’t have split the final book in two.
