Jeff Daniels Heads To The ‘Divergent’ Series

It looks like Jeff Daniels is heading to the Divergent series. This cast announcement comes with some upcoming spoilers, so if you don’t want to be spoiled stop reading here.

Daniels has signed up for The Divergent Series: Allegiant Parts I and II. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Daniels will play a character named David, who is said to be a key role in the series. The character is described as ” the leader of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare. The bureau is behind the creation of the societies in which Tris was living, and the reason behind their creation slowly is revealed (mainly in Part 2) to be nefarious.”

Before getting cast in the Divergent series, Jeff Daniels enjoyed success in the short-lived series The Newsroom. Daniels also just finished filming a large sci-fi project called The Martian, which is directed by Ridley Scot and stars Matt Damon.

Part 1 of the Allegiant film is described as follows: “Beatrice Prior and Tobias Eaton venture into the world outside of the fence and are taken into protective custody by a mysterious agency known as the Bureau of Genetic Welfare.”

The second film is described as, “Beatrice Prior and Tobias Eaton fight to end the Bureau of Genetic Welfare’s authoritarian reign over the United States.”

As far as being a versatile actor, back in 2014 Daniels commented about his lengthy career and how he hasn’t hit a peak even though he’s older than your average matinee star.

“It’s being careful about choices, and it’s about luck. There’s got to be some luck involved, because for somebody to be hitting at my age – it just doesn’t usually happen.”

When asked if he missed his character on The Newsroom, he said, ” … I didn’t do it for 8 years. I did it for 3. And I’m from the world of, close the play and move on. … With everything, you know it’s ending at some point, and there’s a sense of relief in a job well done, past tense. I told Aaron (Sorkin) that. Having that sense of, you can’t do anything more than you did with it. … The goal for me is always, ‘Is the performance definitive? Can you imagine anyone else in the role?’ And I feel successful in coming close to that.”

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Allegiant Part 1 is going to be released on March 18, 2016. While Part 2 is currently being decided.

Are you excited about seeing Jeff Daniels in a different role?

[(Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images]