Naomi Watts to join ‘Insurgent’ and ‘Allegiant’ movies, report says

Naomi Watts is joining Shailene Woodley and Theo James in the three remaining films in the dystopian “Divergent” franchise, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Watts is to play Evelyn, the leader of the Factionless masses, in “Insurgent” and “Allegiant — Parts 1 & 2,” THR says.

Based on Veronica Roth’s massively popular trilogy of futuristic young-adult novels, the “Divergent” movies are set in a post-apocalyptic Chicago where people live in rigidly structured groups according to their personality types. Woodley plays Tris Prior, a reluctant young revolutionary who threatens the ordered society, and James plays her compatriot and love interest, Four.

The series’ cast also includes Kate Winslet, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller and Octavia Spencer.

Principal photography on “Insurgent,” which is scheduled for release March 20, 2015, from Summit Entertainment, began last week in Atlanta. Robert Schwentke is directing from a screenplay by Brian Duffield and Akiva Goldsman.

The “Allegiant” movies are slated for release in March 2016 and 2017, respectively.

“Divergent,” the first film in the burgeoning franchise, opened March 21 and has been a solid if unspectacular box-office performer, grossing $267 million worldwide to date.

Watts has been busy of late and currently has three movies awaiting release: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Birdman,” Theodore Melfi’s “St. Vincent” and “Noah Baumbach’s “While We’re Young.” She is also set to star opposite Matthew McConaughey in Gus Van Sant’s “Sea of Trees,” which will shoot in the fall.