Today’s photo of Tris in Divergent made some parts of the Internet light up with hatred for the actress who has been chosen for the role, Shailene Woodley. We’re here to convince you that it’s not as bad news as you think.

It’s water under the bridge.

First let’s take a look at Woodley’s past, which is where the hate is mostly coming from. Shailene Woodley launched her career with ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which is definitely one of the worst TV programs this author personally believes to have ever existed. It’s an appallingly inaccurate description of the normal American teenager’s life that attempts to bring up huge issues like abstinence and teen pregnancy and fails to do it properly. However, let’s all take a moment here to realize that Shailene Woodley did not create, produce, write, or direct anything from this show.

Woodley is just an actress playing the part that she’s been given as well as she can, and unfortunately for her, the character in The Secret Life of the American Teenager that she’s been told to portray isn’t exactly the deepest and well rounded of characters. Think of actors as models that simply talk and do more than just walking on a runway, because that’s what they are. They’re the people chosen for their looks and their talents to say what they’re told to say, the only difference being that actors have more freedom with what they’re given than what poor high fashion models have with what they wear.

There are several examples of great actors who were in horrible pieces of cinema but still went on to have amazing careers, so let’s take a look, shall we? Sandra Bullock was in that flop All About Steve in 2009, and only a year later does she go on to win an Oscar for The Blind Side. Meanwhile, Kathy Bates has won an Oscar for best actress in her performance for Misery, but she’s also been in that horrible film North that received almost entirely negative reviews by the critics.

Take a look at the Golden Raspberry Awards, a foundation that awards actors for their work in movie flops. There are several prestigious award winning actors on that list, and this goes on to prove that you cannot judge an actor by their failures, but only by their success. Almost every actor has a project they wished they’d never done, and I’m sure Shailene has hers. So let’s stop hating her for her past, shall we?

It’s not a coincidence!

I’d like to take this moment to remind you all that it’s not one person who’s hired Shailene Woodley for all of the blockbusters that she’s been in, and that three separate movie studios have hired her, proving that she doesn’t just have an “in” at one company and is forcing her way through. Summit Entertainment, Fox 2000 Pictures, and Columbia Pictures have all cast Woodley in their films Divergent, The Fault In Our Stars, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, respectively. Each of the casting departments in these studios has seen other auditions but selected Shailene to represent the characters, probably because she did an amazing job, and not because of coincidence!

Call me crazy, but I don’t think she’s brainwashing these movie studios to hire her or using psychic paper, Doctor Who style. There’s also the fact that she has been nominated 31 times for several awards for her work in The Descendants, of which she won 10, and all of that coming from just one film! With all of these awards and recent castings, it’s clear that she’s made up for her Secret Life days and is moving on to bigger and better things.

If you were in the mindset that Shailene Woodley is going to ruin your favorite book(s) and movie(s), then I hope this article has made you rethink that. It’s pretty clear that Shailene Woodley has acting chops, and these movie studios aren’t going to hire someone who’s going to ruin some of the biggest franchises of the year.

Yes, I agree that it’s crazy she’s made her way into all of these huge franchises, but I for one am excited that they’ve picked someone who they believe to portray those characters in the best way possible, and I look forward to seeing her in all these diverse roles.

Divergent, which is the first of these blockbusters we’ll see Woodley in, doesn’t come out until March 21st 2014, so let’s at least wait until then before we complain she’s ruining everything.