Divergent author Veronica Roth is opening up about the film adaptation of her book series and the final film that never got made.
In a new interview, Roth says she was at “peace” with the fourth film of The Divergent Series getting scrapped. Lionsgate split Roth’s third book into two films for a grand finale to the franchise titling it Ascendent, but the film never saw the light of day.
“I mean, breaking things in two was all the rage at the time. That was why that decision was made,” Roth said in an interview with People. “But at that point, I think I always felt peace about it just because I knew the movies were taking a different track than the books, and if you change the lead-up, you change the ending. So I kind of felt like at that point… I feel like that third movie, I don’t know, there’s a lot we could talk about with it. But it’s its own thing.”
Released in 2014 and based on Roth’s 2011 novel, Divergent starred Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn, Maggie Q and Kate Winslet. The film got a sequel in 2015 titled Insurgent and based on Roth’s second book. Roth’s last book titled Allegiant was going to be split into two films, with the first part being released in 2016 and taking its name from the third novel in the series.
Ascendent was the title for what would’ve been the conclusion of The Divergent Series of films, which ultimately got canceled. Despite not having a proper ending, Roth feels like the saga was completed.
“It feels complete to me, relatively speaking, because what does that even mean at that point?” she said.
Roth also weighed in on the decision the studio made to split her last book into two films saying, “I just feel like it’s got to be a big, long book in order for that to make sense.”
There were efforts to wrap up the saga with a television series at Starz that ultimately never materialized.