Ascendant Lee Toland Krieger

With ‘Allegiant’ hitting theaters later this month, ‘The Divergent Series’ is one step closer to it’s grand finale. However, director Robert Schwentke dropped out of ‘Ascendant’ last month after being worn out from shooting two installments of the franchise back to back. Since Lionsgate and Summit have scheduled a March 2017 release date for the final chapter in Tris Prior’s story, the studio needed to move quickly to find a replacement and keep the production on track. Now, it looks like they’ve finally locked one down.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lee Toland Krieger is currently in talks to helm ‘The Divergent Series: Ascendant’. Krieger last directed ‘Age of Adaline’ starring Blake Lively and Harrison Ford, but he first made waves at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival where he debuted ‘The Vicious Kind’. Having also written the script for that film, he earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best screenplay that year. From there, he went on to direct ‘Celeste and Jesse Forever’ starring Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg. 

If things work out, Krieger will be the third director to board the ‘Divergent’ franchise. The first film was directed by Neil Burger, who was then replaced by Schwentke for ‘Insurgent’ and ‘Allegiant’. And though the book series was only a trilogy, Krieger’s movie would focus on the second half of the final book in Veronica Roth’s best-selling novels. 

What do you think about Lee Toland Krieger directing ‘The Divergent Series: Ascendant’? Do you think that he’ll be a suitable replacement for Robert Schwentke? Let us know in the comments below.

‘The Divergent Series: Allegiant’ starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Miles Teller, Zoe Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, Octavia Spencer, Jeff Daniels, Ray Stevenson, Maggie Q, Mekhi Phifer, Daniel Dae Kim, and Naomi Watts hits theaters on March 18, 2016, followed by ‘The Divergent Series: Ascendant’ on March 24, 2017.