Divergent star Shailene Woodley speaks about Veronica Roth’s surprise Allegiant ending, which greatly affected her character, in a new interview. Spoiler warning!

Tris dies at the end of Allegiant, and the plot twist upset a lot of fans. Even Roth ended up explaining the death further on her blog.

Entertainment Weekly asked Woodley about the death, and the star was impressed by it. “I was stoked. I thought that it was such a badass decision of Veronica Roth, and so incredibly powerful,” she says. “I love that she didn’t sort of buy into the breakdown of what most young adult books, like, the outline of what’s happened in previous young adult books. Men die all the time in films – heroes do. But a lot of sweet heroines don’t. And so I thought it was a very powerful, profound decision on her part. And I really love that she had the courage and the bravery to do that.”

Woodley was also asked about the recent announcement that Divergent director Neil Burger won’t return to helm the sequel Insurgent. “Yeah, it was a bit of a shock,” she admits. “We were actually doing reshoots when I found out. It’s kind of strange to think that it’s his baby, and it’s going to be passed on to the next person – and I guess this happens all the time in franchises – but I’ve never been a part of a franchise, and I’ve never experienced anything like it. It was shocking. This entire movie has been about Neil’s vision, and one of the reasons I did it was because I thought his vision was so beautiful and so strong. So yeah, it was just more shocking than anything.”

A search is currently underway for a director to helm Insurgent. When the announcement was made several weeks ago, Summit said that Burger is departing because he can’t finish Divergent while starting preproduction on the sequel.

Divergent starring Woodley, Theo James, and Kate Winslet will hit theaters March 21, 2014. After that, Woodley will star as Hazel Grace in The Fault in Our Stars on June 6.

Thanks to EW for the interview bit.