Shailene Woodley Responds to ‘Divergent’ Finale TV Release News
Fans of the Divergent movies, the franchise based Veronica Roth's popular YA series, learned yesterday (July 21) that the series finale may head straight to TV. This was surprising, unconventional news — and star Shailene Woodley insists she has no further information to offer about the film, nor whether she'll be returning for it.
"I honestly have no idea what's going on with Divergent," Woodley told E! News at San Diego Comic-Con, where she's currently promoting her Snowden drama co-starring Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. "I know as much as you do."
As Variety first reported, Lionsgate may release The Divergent Series: Ascendant on the small screen due to the box office underperformance of the third Allegiant movie. While 2014's Divergent grossed $150,832,203 according to IMDB, profits slowly declined with the next two sequels, seeing a sharp drop-off with Allegiant's $66,002,193 in sales.
But in further evidence that Hollywood is forever grasping at straws these days, Lionsgate won't just quietly put the franchise to sleep with a 2017 TV movie. Instead, their instinct is to reboot the whole thing entirely with a new cast after Ascendant, in a TV series on a to-be-determined network or streaming platform. This suggests the studio doesn't think the series sagged due to diminishing interest in this particular story of rebellious teens in a dystopian society; rather, it was the cast that includes Ansel Elgort, Zoe Kravitz and Miles Teller.
Whether or not Lionsgate believes the world needs more Divergent but with fresh faces, Woodley seemed less than thrilled to be recruited as franchise spokesperson at SDCC.
"It's really convenient that we're doing all these interviews now and I get asked this question [about Divergent]," the Fault In Our Stars actress told E! News.
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