The Divergent movie series is experiencing a major disruption.
The final two films in the four-part Divergent series have been renamed to The Divergent Series: Allegiant and The Divergent Series: Ascendant. Previously they were titled Allegiant, Part 1 and Allegiant, Part 2.
The former naming scheme followed successful YA book-to-film adaptations that preceded Divergent including Harry Potter (Deathly Hallows Part 1, Part 2) The Hunger Games (Mockingjay Part 1, Part 2) and Twilight (Breaking Dawn Part 1, Part 2).
MTV, who broke the news, also revealed new taglines. Allegiant’s reads, “Break The Boundaries of Your World,” while Ascendant’s tagline reads, “The End Is Never What You Expect.”
In a blog post shortly after MTV’s announcement, author Veronica Roth sounded a little uncertain about the changes. “What does this mean? Well, basically, it means there are going to be some changes, but it’s really too early to know exactly what those changes will be or the extent of them,” she wrote. “I know changes always make fans of the books — and the author! — nervous, but hopefully the characters we know (and love. Or sometimes love to hate?) will still be intact, which is really the important thing. I am eager to see how these movies turn out, along with you guys.”
Both MTV and a tweet from the official Divergent Twitter account promised that the world will “expand,” so we suppose this means the two films will be receiving some extra plot lines to help fill out the inevitable two-hour running times.
MTV also shared two teaser posters for Allegiant and Ascendant today, and they both include the new taglines:
Allegiant will open in theaters March 2016 and Ascendant debuts one year later.
No explanation was offered as to why they decided to change the name of the final movie. Our guess? Summit/Lionsgate wants to slow down any Divergent fatigue by offering a fresh name both years.
This isn’t the best news for fans though.
The dictionary definition of ascendant is “rising in power or influence,” but we feel like this could also be a reference to a certain someone’s ascent to heaven. Or are they changing that too?