Shailene Woodley franchise ‘Divergent’ loses final movie’s director

Lionsgate will have to quickly find a director for The Divergent Series: Ascendant because Robert Schwentke has dropped out.

The news was first reported by Deadline, which insisted that there was no bad blood between the studio and Schwentke, who also directed Red for Lionsgate. He just needed a break after having to direct both last year’s Insurgent and the upcoming Allegiant.

According to Variety, Lionsgate has already delayed Ascendant, pushing it to June 9, 2017. It was originally supposed to open on March 24, 2017.

Allegiant will open on March 18.

Neil Burger directed the first film in 2014, but told Lionsgate before the film even opened that he wouldn’t make the sequels.

While the Divergent films haven’t quite turned Shailene Woodley into a household name like the Hunger Games series did for Jennifer Lawrence, the first two films have grossed a combined $600 million worldwide. They are based on the novels by Veronica Roth. Miles Teller and Theo James also star.