Robert Schwentke walks away from Divergent series before Ascendant finale

February 9th 2016, 5:07pm

These big-budget franchise movies are exhausting, especially when you consider the turnaround time the studios are looking for from one film to the next in order to maximize the value of a series at its peak and rake in the dollars.

That’s why you’ll often see different filmmakers being brought in to helm subsequent sequels and chapters. It’s a process that is rife with burnout, given the time and energy that needs to go into making one film and then being asked to take a short break and get right back to work. It used to be able to be done when you had a few years between sequels. Not anymore.

And that’s why Robert Schwentke is walking away from the DIVERGENT series just before things would have closed out with the ASCENDANT finale. Having made INSURGENT and ALLEGIANT back-to-back, Schwentke is opting for a break rather than pressing on, leaving the DIVERGENT capper without a director.

Lionsgate has the film dated for June 9, 2017, so, in order to meet that demand, they’re going to have to start compiling candidates quickly. I’d imagine it won’t be too long before they have someone in place to execute whatever vision will come from the adaptation of Veronica Roth’s conclusion.