The DIVERGENT series has just been handed a blow. The film franchise, based on the popular young adult book series by Veronica Roth, is preparing to unleash its third entry THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT next month. From there, all eyes were going to be set on the series finale, THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ASCENDANT, which is slated for a June 9, 2017 release. But now that film has lost its director.

According to Deadline, Robert Schwentke- who handled INSURGENT and ALLEGIANT- has exited ASCENDANT. There’s no word on why he’d walk off of the project, or away from the franchise he’s devoted the last few years of his life to, but all we know is that Lionsgate is now going to have to scramble to find a suitable replacement in time to get the film into theaters by next June.

The two DIVERGENT films released so far have earned a little less than half a billion dollars worldwide.

SOURCE: Deadline