Back in July, Lionsgate announced that it had pulled Ascendant, the final chapter of The Divergent Series, from its theatrical release schedule, and would instead be concluding the saga with a TV movie owing to dwindling box office returns for the YA adaptation.
Star Shailene Woodley has previously suggested that she is not interested in returning as Tris Prior on the small screen, and now director Neil Burger – who helmed the first movie back in 2014 – has spoken to The Hollywood Reporter about the situation, describing it as “sad”.
“I think it’s sad,” Burger said. “I was just talking to the people at Lionsgate about something else recently, and it’s just that they got themselves into a difficult bind through various circumstances. … I don’t think they feel like they should’ve split [the last book] into two [films]. If they hadn’t, they would’ve been in much better shape, but at the time I’m sure they were excited and they saw some potential there. It’s just too bad because I love all those actors, and they were very loyal to it. They’re still really trying to figure out what they’re gonna do with it.”
The last we heard, Lionsgate was hoping to use the TV movie version of Ascendant to launch a season of between 10 and 13 episodes, which could then lead to subsequent TV seasons in the future. However, there’s been no word on whether the studio intends on asking any of the cast members – which also include the likes of Theo James, Zoe Kravitz, Ansel Elgort and Miles Teller – to return for the TV project.
Originally published October 22, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
