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Based on Veronica Roth’s novels, theDivergentseries officially made its way into theaters during the golden age ofyoung adult dystopian novels. In the 2010s, it seemed like every teenager wanted to know how someone like them would do in a post-apocalyptic situation. More importantly, they were able to sympathize with the characters who were dealing with surprisingly relatable problems on the screen.
WhileThe Hunger Gamesfranchise shot to the top of the charts and practically served as the driving force for the other dystopian book adaptations,other great works fell short with their on-screen presence.Divergentstarted strong, likeThe Hunger GamesandThe Maze Runner, but due to some creative liberties and bad calls, fans didn’t seem as interested as the series progressed. By the time the third film,Allegiant, was released, the box office numbers took quite a dive.
A decision was made to pull back on the second part of the series finale, but there was still plenty of talk about how to comfortably end the series. A few ideas were thrown around, and aconversation with Netflixwas even had. However, eight years have passed sinceAllegiantwas released, and there is still no concrete answer about what is being done. With theDivergentseries making a comeback on Netflix, plenty of people are wondering if a final film (or any other form of closure) will ever make its way to the screen.
The Divergent Series Tells an Important Message
While theDivergentseries is quite entertaining with its love story and plenty of action scenes, a much larger message must be acknowledged by all. In the first film, Tris (Shainele Woodley) and her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) go through the Choosing Ceremony, during which they ultimately have to choose how they will spend the rest of their lives within their society. They are presented with five options – Abnegation for the selfless, Amity for the kind, Candor for the honest, Dauntless for the brave, and Erudite for the intelligent – but Tris proves to be different from everyone else.
Instead of having one distinctive trait,Tris possesses the ability to fit into several factions, something that the government fears. She ends up choosing Dauntless, but she soon realizes that her difference is what will change the world.
What Audiences Should Learn from Divergent
It is no secret that aperson’s teen yearsare very important, so it is pretty incredible for great role models within that age range to be shown as decision-makers in movies. TheDivergentseries explores the idea that no person should feel as if they have to be a certain way to make things around them work out.Woodley’s character proves that it is okay to be different, but more importantly, she represents the idea that a morally good person does not always have all the answers. This may seem like an obvious statement, but to teenagers who are given college packets and constantly asked what they want to do and be in the near future, it is actually a beautiful and important message.
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Tris and her friends go on to challenge the status quo, even when they are told to back down and do as they are told. This lesson speaks volumes when applying it to our real world. Teens, young adults, and even children must be told that they can make a difference in their society if they have heart, are determined enough, and do everything they can to make people understand why things need to change.
Rumors of a Fourth Divergent Film
After the first film’s success, everyone thought the producers, directors, and actors would see Roth’s story all the way through.The Hunger GamesandThe Maze Runnerseries were booming, so there was little doubt about theDivergentseries keeping up. Unfortunately, that mindset died out whenAllegiantwas released in the spring of 2016, andthe profits were nowhere near the other two films. With a new director in place and plenty of bad reviews going around about the franchise practically pulling at thin strings to keep up with other films, the idea ofAscendantgetting a cinematic release simply died out. For a brief moment, a TV movie was being talked about, hoping it would lead to a successful series, but the actors seemed to shut that down rather quickly.
Divergent Film
Release Date
Box Office Total
July 30, 2025
$288,885,818
The Divergent Series: Insurgent
August 16, 2025
$297,276,329
The Divergent Series: Allegiant
June 14, 2025
$179,246,868
Why Teen Dystopian Future Movies Died Out
Although leading the box office for a few years, the genre could not grow out of similar themes and storylines and cut too much source material.
How the Actors Felt About Calling It Quits
In an interview withScreen Rant, Miles Teller, who played Peter in theDivergentseries, said he would not make a TV movie just to finish the storyline. Woodley took a similar stance after finding out about the possibility. It makes sense that, after three films with bigger budgets and high expectations, the actors would be reluctant to move over to television just for the sake of the series getting a spin-off show. So, once the actors voiced their opinions and moved on to different projects, the continuation ultimately fell through.
Why the Divergent Series Failed
With the success of the first two films and the fact that the third film was not a complete flop, plenty of peoplewonder what exactly went wrong withtheDivergentseries. It was released within the same year asThe Maze Runner,The Giver, andMockingjay Part 1, so the fact that there was no audience for it is not much of an excuse. Plenty of sci-fi fans were practically gorging themselves on dystopic worlds, so the question is this: what made the franchise ultimately fail?
Too Many Similarities and Clichés
If you look at the films and Roth’s novels, you will see that the screenwriters and directors decided to take some storylines in a different direction or cut them too much to where audiences did not have an emotional attachment to certain characters. However, that didn’t seem to be too much trouble for fans watchingThe Maze Runnerseries, as it was able to finish out Thomas' storyline.
Some critics have speculated that it failed due to trying to follow films likeThe Hunger Games,Twilight, andHarry Potterwhen splitting up the final book into two films. There was not a great cliffhanger inAllegiantthat left audiences wanting more, so many simply accepted the movie’s ending as is. Whatever the reason, some fans are still upset by the lack of closure, but many seem to have no problem saying that the book was just better and have accepted that the series won’t return anytime soon.Divergentis streaming now onNetflix.
