The final book in Veronica Roth’s bestselling Divergent trilogy will be split into two films. Following next year’s middle chapter Insurgent, the series finale will be released as Allegiant: Part 1 in March 2016 and Allegiant: Part 2 in March the following year. It seems Lionsgate is partaking in the recent film fad of separating the final book of a successful series into more than one film, thereby going down the same route as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay and to some extent, the Hobbit Trilogy (In fact, some may argue that, had the Lord of the Rings been made in this decade, The Return of the King may too have been separated into two films!). Divergent has so far made $139m worldwide, and jumping on the top grossing film bandwagon, the directors are making fans wait twice as long (and pay twice as much) to see the end of the story.
Shailene Woodley is set to return as heroine Tris in the dystopian sci-fi adventure alongside Theo James, Jai Courtney and Miles Teller, with Robert Schwentke, director of Red, taking over from Neil Burger for the next three films.
Allegiant is only a few pages longer than the first two books in Roth’s trilogy, making fans question how, when and where the story will be split into two. It may work through focusing each part of the final chapter on one of the star-crossed protagonists. With increasingly dangerous stakes and intricate conspiracies, fans of the book might actually welcome more time dedicated to the film to do the complicated storyline justice.
Divergent is in cinemas now, and both Insurgent and Allegiant are available to buy online or in book shops now.
