Update: Since this article originally ran, I spoke with Veronica Roth about The Sixth Faction, her motivations for writing these new books, and what readers can expect from them. Be sure to check out that interview here!
In a surprise announcement at BookCon 2026, author Veronica Roth announced that she is working on two new entries in the Divergent series that will re-imagine the events of the original books in a kind of “What if?” scenario.
For those who need a refresher (or are simply unfamiliar with the books), the first entry in the series is set in a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago ruled by five factions. Either you join one of those factions, or you are softly exiled into a hard life. The series follows a young woman named Beatrice Prior who decides to join the Dauntless faction despite receiving unusual test results that she decides to hide.
According to Roth, these two new books (which will begin with an entry titled “The Sixth Faction”) will explore what may have happened if Beatrice did not choose the Dauntless faction at the start of the novels. What exactly that means for her arc is a fascinating question that Roth is clearly not prepared to answer quite yet. However, the author has hinted that fans shouldn’t expect a complete reinvention of the original story, but rather a different perspective.
“For existing fans, I’m excited for them to see how the old and the new fold together,” Roth stated. “You’d think that certain things wouldn’t happen because she makes a different faction choice, but she does find her way to the same people. Seeing how that happens is a really fun part of it.”
This project also offers Roth the chance to address certain criticisms of the original story she feels were valid.
“Mentally, it was helpful for me to be like, ‘You can do it better now,’” Roth says in an interview with Elle. “‘You’ve grown so much, and you should appreciate that. So what would you do now?’”
Roth does not elaborate on which specific criticisms she intends to address, but did state that she doesn’t intend to seriously change the “silly” tone of the novels, as she believes that “What works about Divergent is some of the cheesiness. You need it to be fun and sexy and romantic; that’s part of what people love about it. So don’t be so critical that you suck the life out of it.”
Roth also admits she’s nervous about what has been described as something of an experiment, which makes sense given the nature of this project and the expectations that will surely follow. Roth’s description of these works makes them sound more like a “Director’s Cut” that aims to reframe the original story with new material. However, the idea of revisiting it through the lens of the eventual response to it is almost closer to the way Stephen King rewrote significant portions of The Gunslinger or the ways J.R.R. Tolkien updated The Hobbit. Yet, even those cases were largely intended to address lore and continuity issues. The supposed scope and setup of these reimagined Divergent books remains a potentially exciting approach that will be fascinating to see unfold.
The Sixth Faction is expected to be released on October 6, 2026.
