Divergent may live again as Starz hopes to develop Ascendant TV series

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Remember DIVERGENT? The franchise based on the Veronica Roth series which crashed and burned before it was able to conclude its story? Yeah, you know the one. Both DIVERGENT and INSURGENT did well enough at the box-office, so Lionsgate did what everyone was doing at the time and attempted to extend the franchise by splitting the final novel into two movies. However, upon release, ALLEGIANT received scathing reviews and wound up making $100 million less than its predecessor. It seemed that audiences were no longer interested, and Lionsgate took the step of slashing the finale's budget before scrapping the film altogether. That was that, or so we thought. It was later revealed that Lionsgate was considering concluding the franchise with a TV movie which would spin-off into a TV series, but unfortunately for Lionsgate, the DIVERGENT cast weren't exactly thrilled by this development.

We haven't heard much about the fate of the DIVERGENT franchise since then, but Deadline has reported that there may still be life in the franchise as Starz is in the early stages of developing Ascendant as a TV series. The project is being written by Adam Cozad (THE LEGEND OF TARZAN) and directed by Lee Toland Krieger (THE AGE OF ADALINE), both of whom were previously attached to ASCENDANT when it was destined for a life on the big-screen. It's currently unclear whether Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, or the rest of the DIVERGENT cast would appear on the series, although Starz is apparently considering it a possibility in order to wrap up their characters' story and jump-start the series.

As many of the actors have already made their feelings about the franchise concluding on TV quite clear, including Shailene Woodley, who said that "I didn’t sign up to be in a television show," I can't imagine that many of them will suddenly change their mind. After all, they are not contractually obligated to do so. I can't say that I'm a big fan of the DIVERGENT franchise, but I do feel for those who are still waiting for the conclusion of the series. Imagine if Lionsgate hadn't gotten greedy and split the final installment into two movies. Just imagine it. There's some alternate world out there where the franchise is over and done with and most of us continue to not give a shit about it.