Shailene Woodley Was Shocked by the 'Ascendant' News, Too
Fans of the "Divergent" series are still reeling after it was revealed that studio Lionsgate will scrap the theatrical release of the final film in the series, "Ascendant." While the plans to turn the franchise instead into a TV movie and accompanying series are still a bit up in the air, one person who's also confused by what's happening is the star of the films, Shailene Woodley.
Woodley arrived at Comic-Con on Thursday to promote her new flick, the Oliver Stone movie "Snowden," right as the "Ascendant" news was breaking, and told reporters she was just as in the dark about the details as them.
"Honestly, I was on a plane when all that happened and I landed, and I'm like Whoa, what's going on?!" Woodley said during a press event.
When asked whether or not she would appear in a TV movie version of "Ascendant," the actress said she wasn't sure.
"I need to talk and find out what the details are," Woodley told reporters.
The actress doubled down on that uncertainty in an interview with E! News, telling the outlet, "I honestly have no idea what's going on with 'Divergent.' I know as much as you do."
The "Divergent" series, based on the books by Veronica Roth, was initially a hit when it first debuted in theaters. The first film had a solid debut at the box office in 2014, though the next flick, "Insurgent," fell a bit short of those numbers when it was released in 2015. Then, this spring, "Allegiant" failed to connect with either critics or fans, pulling in a paltry $66 million.
Many fans of the books attribute that film's poor performance with Lionsgate's controversial decision to split Roth's final novel, "Allegiant," into two flicks, a strategy that previously paid off for the studio with the "Twilight" and "Hunger Games" series. Unfortunately, it looks like that move spelled the beginning of the end for the "Divergent" franchise, and now it's unclear if the "Ascendant" TV movie will even happen at all. If it does, it's unlikely that Woodley and costars Theo James and Ansel Elgort will be on board.
Stay tuned to see how this all shakes out.
