The big-screen adaptation of Veronica Roth’s Divergent novels will conclude in 2017, and when it does, the final two films of the popular franchise will be sporting different titles than those that were originally announced for the franchise.
Initially tagged as The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Part 1 and The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Part 2, the two films that will close out the franchise will now be titled The Divergent Series: Allegiant and The Divergent Series: Ascendant, respectively.
Lionsgate Films announced the change in titles via MTV, and released a pair of new promotional posters for the two upcoming films to accompany the news.
Set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian Chicago where the remaining population is segregated by their social and emotional traits, the series follows Tris (played by Shailene Woodley), a “Divergent” who defies classification and is perceived as a threat by the powers governing the city. After learning that she’s far from the only Divergent in the world, Tris finds herself enmeshed in the secrets of both the world beyond the city’s walls and the rigid system that defines the lives of her friends and loved ones.
Roth’s series of novels have repeatedly broken sales records, with pre-orders for the final chapter, Allegiant, exceeding any book in publisher HarperCollins’ history. The first two films in the Divergent franchise have earned more than $550 million worldwide. Filming on the newly retitled, penultimate installment of the franchise, The Divergent Series: Allegiant is currently underway in Atlanta.
Along with Woodley, the franchise cast includes Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Theo James, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Keiynan Lonsdale, Jonny Weston, Mekhi Phifer, and Daniel Dae Kim. Newcomers to the cast for the third film include Jeff Daniels, Nadia Hilker, and Bill Skarsgård. Robert Schwentke directs Allegiant.
The Divergent Series: Allegiant hits theaters March 18, 2016, and will be followed a year later by The Divergent Series: Ascendant on March 24, 2017.
