Netflix Gave Shailene Woodley's Biggest Critical Flop A Second Life - And It's Blowing Up

Following the success of "The Hunger Games," Lionsgate tried to capture lightning in a bottle twice by greenlighting a series of films based on Veronica Roth's "Divergent" novels. Released in 2014, "Divergent" featured then-rising star Shailene Woodley in the lead role. "Divergent" was a critical flop, but despite the poor reception the film (and its sequels) received, Woodley's flick is getting a second life on Netflix a decade after it debuted. On June 6, 2024, "Divergent" emerged as the sixth most-watched film on Netflix in the U.S. The film is quickly blowing up the streamer's charts, even besting Netflix's own "Atlas," which stars Jennifer Lopez. 

It's surprising that the Neil Burger-directed "Divergent" is becoming one of Netflix's most popular offerings as the film was maligned upon release, with just a 41% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the poor reviews, however, most critics agreed that Woodley did a perfectly adequate job playing an underwritten character.  And now fans on Letterboxd, the film-centric social media site, are also looking back on the film fondly. "This may not be a good movie but my trash self loves it anyways!!!!" wrote user mulaney. 

Released during the height of the craze for dystopian YA films, "Divergent" ended up doing decent box office business with a $288 million worldwide gross. But while the money and hype were initially there, the "Divergent" film series would completely fall apart, making the franchise a major sore spot for Woodley and her co-stars. 

While it didn't have the same critical love as the "Hunger Games" and "Harry Potter" franchises, the first "Divergent" was a perfectly adequate teen-oriented film and expectations were high for the sequels. Released in 2015, "The Divergent Series: Insurgent" managed to gross more than its predecessor despite a poor critical and fan reception. But that silver lining didn't come a second time: the threequel "The Divergent Series: Allegiant" bombed at the box office, barely getting to $179 million. 

With general audiences and fans seemingly losing interest in the franchise, Lionsgate decided to turn the fourth book, "Ascendant," into a TV movie, with the intention of eventually spinning off the franchise into various other programs. That, of course, didn't happen, with Shailene Woodley and other cast members voicing their disappointment over the studio's decision. "Out of respect to the studio and everyone involved, they may have changed their mind and may be doing something different, but I'm not necessarily interested in doing a television show," Woodley told ScreenRant. 

With Woodley done with the franchise, "Divergent 4" will likely never happen. While fans might be disappointed that they'll never see the series conclude, they'll be pleased to know that every "Divergent" film is streaming on Netflix. And if you still need your dystopian YA fix, here are 14 movies like "Divergent" you need to watch next.