The Divergent films might not so far have been quite the runaway successes to match, say the Twilight series or The Hunger Games, but they are doing well enough to keep the franchise humming along. Insurgent director Robert Schwentke is gearing up to start shooting at least the first of the pair of films based on Veronica Roth’s third tome, Allegiant, and Jeff Daniels has signed on for a major role{
Note the requisite Spoiler Warning here for anyone who hasn’t read the books and isn’t already au fait with the plot. Allegiant finds Tris (Shailene Woodley) getting to the heart of the mystery surrounding the future society she’s been standing up against and the factions at its core. Daniels will be David, the leader of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, which originally created the various factions. As Tris starts to learn – more towards the end of the book – David and his team’s actions might not exactly have everyone’s best interests at heart.
With Noah Oppenheim writing the screenplay, Schwentke will start the cameras rolling in May. Unusually, it appears he won’t be making both of the final entries at once, and Lionsgate may go with someone else to direct the second half. The film should be with us on March 18 next year.
Daniels has been busy recently, working on Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs and Ridley Scott’s The Martian. The former will be with us on November 13, with the latter following on November 27.