Divergent Author Re-Writing The Sci-Fi Book Series With New Novel The Sixth Faction

Veronica Roth is releasing two new books set in the world of Divergent but with a surprising twist.

Roth published the Divergent trilogy from 2011 to 2013, with an unfinished film adaptation following soon after. While the author has since written some short stories in the Young Adult/dystopian world she created, she hasn't written a full-length Divergent novel in 13 years.

After all these years, Roth is publishing The Sixth Faction, the first in a new duology that reimagines Divergent through a what-if type scenario. Instead of choosing Dauntless as she does in the first Divergent novel, The Sixth Faction will follow protagonist Tris Prior as she makes a completely different decision after a tragedy changes everything.

The new novel will be released on October 6, 2026, with the second book coming out in February 2027. Roth announced the major news on Instagram and revealed the cover, which shows Tris standing on the edge of a building's roof, with Four behind her.

The original Divergent trilogy is set in a future version of Chicago in which teenagers undergo an aptitude test and then choose one of five factions (Abnegation, Dauntless, Erudite, Amity and Candor) that determine the rest of their lives.

The main character, Tris Prior, is Divergent, which makes her a danger to the authoritarian-controlled society. She grew up in Abnegation but abandons that faction on Choosing Day and meets a young man named Four. The two sequels, Insurgent and Allegiant, continue Tris and Four's journey, as power-hungry villain Jeanine Matthews launches a war and targets her adversaries.

One year after the final book came out, Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate released a movie adaptation of Divergent, which grossed $289 million at the box office and earned a critic score of 41% on Rotten Tomatoes. While reviews weren't kind to the film, the solid box office returns led to two sequels, with The Divergent Series: Insurgent grossing $297 million (and earning a 29% RT score).

The franchise then ran into trouble when the studio decided to split the final book into two movies, a popular trend at the time after being used for Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games, to varying degrees of success. Those two-part installments were filmed simultaneously, unlike Allegiant, which would have two separate productions.

After The Divergent Series: Allegiant only grossed $179 million and received an 11% score, Summit changed course and decided to finish out the adaptation as a TV movie. Those plans were also scrapped, though, and the Divergent film series was never completed.

The authors of Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games have all revisited their respective fictional worlds after the main book series ended. J.K. Rowling wrote the scripts for the Fantastic Beasts movies and worked on the award-winning Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play. Suzanne Collins has written two Hunger Games prequels, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping.

While those two authors have expanded their worlds, Twilight's Stephenie Meyer has leaned into the alternate-universe approach by writing a gender-swapped version called Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, as well as Midnight Sun that retold the events of the first Twilight novel from Edward Cullen's point of view instead of Bella's.

Now Roth is doing something similar, but instead of writing a gender-swapped story or changing the point of view, she's rewriting Divergent from the perspective of Tris choosing a completely different faction. After the film series fizzled out, it's unknown at this point if The Sixth Faction will be adapted for the screen.

The Sixth Faction will be released on Tuesday, October 6, 2026.