After Divergent director Neil Burger opted not to return for the follow-up, Insurgent, **Red **director Robert Schwentke stepped in to replace him. Fortunately for Lionsgate, the company won’t have to find another choice for the third film, Allegiant – Part 1, as Schwentke is sticking around.
The company is clearly happy with Schwentke’s work on Insurgent – one of the first stills from the film is lurking above, showing Four (Theo James), Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Caleb (Ansel Elgort) on the run – and is eager for him to pull off a similar trick to Francis Lawrence, who shot **T****he Hunger Games: Catching Fire **plus both chunks of the Mockingjay adaptation, the first of which is currently soaring at the box office.
Whether Schwentke stays put for the second Allegiant film remains to be seen, though Lionsgate may try to tempt him to shoot both entries back to back, as with Mockingjay.
Insurgent sees Tris and the rest still trying to fight back in future Chicago as she and Four evade the power-hungry Erudite leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet). They will have to track down what Tris’s family gave their lives to protect, and Tris must face up to her choices as she unlocks the truth about the past and the future of their world. So, you know, just an average day for her since she embraced her Divergent destiny.
The film will be out on March 20 next year with Allegiant – Part 1 scheduled for March 18, 2016 and Part 2 the following year.