Lionsgate really wants to believe that there’s “tremendous fandom” left for the “Divergent” franchise, but any look at the cold hard facts reveals that’s some delusional thinking. The audience has been thinning considerably for each successive picture, culminating in this spring’s bomb, “Allegiant,” which did so badly, the studio is now pivoting toward finishing the planned followup “Ascendant” on TV, and then launching a new television series. When asked over the past few months, none of the franchise players have seemed particularly keen on following “Divergent” to the small screen, and now Tris herself seems to have kiboshed the idea.
“I didn’t sign up to be in a television show,” she told Screen Rant. “Out of respect to the studio and everyone in involved, they may have changed their mind and may be doing something different, but I’m not necessarily interested in doing a television show.”
And what else is there to say, really? Of course, Lionsgate has poured so much money into “Divergent” at this point, that their concern is keeping the property alive, and they’ll likely do whatever is necessary to make that happen. But even if they recast and start over with a new narrative, it’s going to be an awkward transition to say the least.
