‘Divergent: Ascendant’ Ditches Theatrical Release in Favor of TV Movie to Launch Spin-Off Series; Shailene Woodley Reacts to Shocking News

‘Divergent: Ascendant’ is reportedly ditching a scheduled theatrical release in favor of a television movie. The move is intended to launch a spin-off series that will introduce brand new characters. Meanwhile, lead actress Shailene Woodley expressed her surprise at the new developments.

According to an article on Variety, Lionsgate is reportedly in early stages of negotiations to launch a television movie followed by a spin-off series. The studios is opting out of a theatrical release for the last film in ‘The Divergent Series’ and will instead wrap on the small screen as a TV movie.

The first two releases based on Veronica Roth’s bestselling science-fiction series of the same name did significantly well at the box office. According to The Numbers, Neil Burger’s ‘Divergent’ grossed $276.01 million worldwide on a production budget of $85 million while Robert Schwentke’s ‘The Divergent Series: Allegiant’ earned $295.28 million worldwide on a budget of $110 million.

However, the third installment ‘The Divergent Series: Allegiant’ failed to meet Lionsgate’s expected earnings grossing only $171.4 million worldwide against a budget of $110 million. Schwentke’s sequel was panned by critics and led to budget cuts for the final entry ‘The Divergent Series: Ascendant’.

The fourth film was originally scheduled to premiere on June 2017, competing against Universal’s upcoming ‘The Mummy’ reboot as well as Paramount’s ‘World War Z 2’. Schwentke dropped from the project and has since been replaced with Lee Toland Krieger of ‘The Age of Adaline’ fame.

It seems like Lionsgate is rethinking their strategy of cutting losses with the new plan supposedly shifting to the small screen. It was reported that the fourth film’s premiere on television will pave the way to a new spin-off series that would introduce a host of brand new characters.

Shailene Woodley, who plays the lead protagonist Tris, expressed her own disbelief at the recent turn of events. According to Deadline, she addressed the issue during an interview at the San Diego Comic-Con while promoting her new film ‘Snowden’. She told reporters, “Honestly, I was on a plane when all that happened and I landed, and I’m like Whoa, what’s going on?!... I need to talk and find out what the details are.”

‘Divergent: Ascendant’ is the second-half of the two-part finale of the cinematic adaptation of the novels of the same name. The upcoming action-adventure dystopian film  directed by Lee Toland Krieger and produced by Lucy Fisher, Pouya Shahbazian, and Douglas Wick.