Books Divergent Veronica Roth on Returning to Divergent Through the Alternate Universe Story The Sixth Faction “When I realized that 15 years later, Divergent was still selling really well, I also realized that I was not going to be able to ignore it in my life.” By Matthew Byrd | Published on April 28, 2026 Photo credit: Nelson Fitch Comment 0 Share New Share Photo credit: Nelson Fitch The reveal of Veronica Roth’s The Sixth Faction quickly became the talk of BookCon 2026. 13 years after the third, and seemingly final, entry in the Divergent series was published, Roth is returning to the YA dystopian series that kicked off her professional writing career and became a phenomenon. However, The Sixth Faction is not a direct continuation of the Divergent series. It is instead the first of two planned entries in an alternate universe re-imagining of that series that are based on the question, “What if Beatrice Prior didn’t choose to join the Dauntless faction?” That concept of revisiting the past to see what may have happened if a few different choices were made is both a fascinating premise and the behind-the-scenes heart of this project. The Sixth Faction and its planned follow-up offer Roth the chance to revisit Divergent and answer a few of her own “What if?” questions. But this isn’t just about seeing what may have happened in a butterfly effect scenario. These works also allow Roth to revisit a story she has taken immense pride in even as she has wrestled with a legacy that has made it difficult to ever truly leave that universe. I recently got the chance to speak with Roth about The Sixth Faction, Divergent, and what it means to find joy in the works you are ultimately still critical of. Buy the Book The Sixth Faction Veronica Roth Buy Book The Sixth Faction Veronica Roth Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget Matthew Byrd: First off, congratulations on the announcement.  Veronica Roth: Thank you. Matthew: To jump right into it, I really want to know about the format of these books starting with The Sixth Faction. I’m very curious about how you landed on this approach versus, say, a sequel, spinoff, or prequel. You’ve experimented before with altered universe ideas within this world, but how did you land on committing to this approach? Veronica: I think it goes back to the motivation behind writing them. I had, over the course of 15 years, taken in so much negativity, even though there was a lot of positivity surrounding the series. Because of my particular psychology, I really retained a lot of the negative parts. When I realized that 15 years later, Divergent was still selling really well, I also realized that I was not going to be able to ignore it in my life. I needed to improve my relationship to it. The idea of a sequel or a prequel or an alternate point of view or something like that, it still very much feels like a continuation of what I did before. What I needed to do for myself was to make it feel new. I also thought that this was a fun and playful experiment because it’s just something that we see a little less often. I’m not the first person to play with their own canon, obviously. It felt like a way to appreciate what I loved about the original while still allowing myself to build something that felt new. Matthew: As you mentioned, there have been a few works that have taken similar approaches to this. Are there any specific examples of that approach that you really gravitated towards that inspired you to go this route? Veronica: I think the most common ones that I was aware of were just the alternate point of view tellings. The one I grew up on was Bean’s POV from Ender’s Game. Obviously, Stephenie Meyer did that with Midnight Sun. Mostly, I was aware of those other point of view stories. They don’t alter the canon or play with canon in quite the same way, but they do alter it because inevitably they build new things out of what was there before. So I think that was a point of inspiration for sure. Matthew: You’ve of course written both standalone works and other series since Divergent. How did it compare working on this project versus working on something entirely new? Did it feel riskier or potentially more rewarding? Veronica: I think it was both. I knew the kinds of reactions some people were likely to have to this, so in that sense, it was risky. Emotionally, it was risky because it was returning to this thing that I have developed complicated feelings about. So that part felt a little unsettling. Am I going to enjoy this? Am I going to find joy in this project? The reward was great, though, because I think it really did do what I hoped it would, which is that it helped me to appreciate what I did well in the old series instead of only seeing what I was critical of. Obviously I still have criticisms of my past work, but it was very unbalanced the way that I was looking at it, so this has really helped me with that. Matthew: When did you feel that shift that allowed you to enjoy writing in this world again? Was there anything specific that helped cause that change, or was it really just a process over time? Veronica: I released a couple scenes from a kind of early version of this on my newsletter. It was just like, ‘I’m just going to try this.’ This is low stakes, and if it feels good, then maybe this project is something that I can do. Then, it was about going back and actually making something that helped me to feel the joy. That’s how I’ve always worked. I like to make things, so that’s why I’m a writer. I wasn’t just going to be able to fix my thoughts. I needed to rebuild or build something. Matthew: To what extent do you feel, if at all, these upcoming novels reflect how you would’ve written the Divergent series if you started them now as opposed to when you did? Veronica: My feeling is that the strength of the original series is in the character relationships and those instincts about people and emotions that I had early on. So I’ve tried to preserve that. I think that’s what works for people about the original series, even when they read it now. But what sometimes doesn’t work as well is that the world-building foundation is not as stable. It’s a bit of a fantastical concept. This is not hard-hitting dystopian fiction in the sense of 1984, Brave New World, or Margaret Atwood. It’s not supposed to be. It’s more fantastical than that. But I still think that having more stable rules that undergird your story helps readers go on an emotional journey with the characters. They feel like there’s something stable beneath them. That’s kind of what I worked on with the world-building. It’s not so noticeable, I think, but for me, it felt sturdier than the original. Matthew: How much of your growth and changing preferences as a writer is ultimately reflected in these new books? Veronica: So after the original series came out, I had received a lot of feedback. I decided that I was really going to focus on growth, especially in the areas I felt I was weaker. Every book since then was trying to shore up those weaknesses as a writer and to become stronger. Have a better toolset, basically.  But what actually made The Sixth Faction work is more than that. You can’t go into a work like Divergent, which is supposed to be fun and adventurous, and for young people, and think ‘I’m going to make this smart, I’m going to make this prove myself to people.’ That would be a posture of defense. I don’t think you can make something good out of that defensive posture. So when I wrote Seek the Traitor’s Son, which comes out in May, I kind of learned that it was okay to be the writer that I am. And that means that, yes, I have grown a lot, but also I love a little bit of self-indulgence. I love emotional intimacy. I love a quieter story inside of a big expansive story. Allowing myself to be that way is partly why these books came about. So it was like a balance of those few things. Matthew: I’m glad you mentioned that because I’ve heard you talk before about a preference for more emotional, intimate, character-driven stories. Would you say that The Sixth Faction and its follow-up are more intimate versions of the Divergent trilogy? Veronica: I think so, yeah. It’s hard for me to assess them at this point, but it felt that way to me. They’re much more focused on these people and their dynamic together. And The Sixth Faction feels like a conspiracy thriller in some ways, whereas the original was more like a sort of traditional chosen one narrative. This focus is a little tighter, I think, on people, what they’re doing, and the lies that they’re telling to each other. Matthew: You specifically mentioned world-building and characterization as some of the things you really wanted to focus on. Were there any more specific elements of the series you really wanted to address this time around based on the feedback you received? Veronica: That’s a good question. I mean, there are some plot elements. Obviously, this is a duology and the original is a trilogy, so there was a lot of tightening that happened to make that second book out of the other two books. Just keeping the plot as streamlined as possible and keeping it focused. I think that was probably the biggest challenge. Obviously it applies a little more to the second installment than to the first, but it was definitely part of my plan from the beginning. Matthew: On that note, you’ve spoken before in regards to The Divergent series about wanting to finish the story you set out to write versus perhaps altering it along the way significantly in order to meet reader expectations for what may or may not happen. How did you approach that this time around? Obviously people know how certain plot points end up, but how did you manage to balance reader expectations versus your own hopes for where you want this series to head? Veronica: Well, it’s easy because I didn’t think so much about it. Because this project is primarily for me and for course-correcting my relationship to Divergent. I focused very much on what would please me. Obviously I care about my readers and they got me here, so I’m not looking to disappoint them. I think what will please them most is to tell the strongest story possible and the one with the most integrity. I was just like, what works best for this? This is a new story. We have to treat it that way. What makes this story function? Matthew: Do you ultimately feel like you’re fixing or updating what you did in the past, or is this more like having a different conversation with it? Veronica: No, I think any kind of updating or fixing that happened is a result of me trying to build a story that works as a separate entity. I want to give respect to the me that came before for all the works that she did. So it is not my goal to correct mistakes. I don’t think I could have written it if I thought about it that way because that would’ve been kind of soul crushing. So my intention is to write something new just to make something fun, be playful, be experimental, and experience joy. These are the things that I write books for. Not the only things, but that was what this project was very much about. Matthew: As much as you’re able to discuss it, were there certain rules you followed or feel you had to follow when exploring this alternate timeline? Were there certain moments that you decided were inevitable and were always going to occur versus what could theoretically be altered? Veronica: Yes. There were a couple times I had to make picks. ‘What are my favorite things?’ ‘What do I want to keep?’ Mostly my rules were about character. Even though they’re in different situations and are making different choices and growing in different directions, sometimes they have to feel true to the person that I first described in the original series. So my main focus was on that. But there are a couple little… I would say smaller cheekier moments are maybe a nod to the original. That was fun for me, but mostly it was character-based. Matthew: Speaking of characters, how much of yourself as an author and as a person did you initially put into Tris as a character and how much of who you are now is reflected in the version of her we’re going to see in these new books? Veronica: I wouldn’t say that there’s that much of me in her. She’s really hard on herself. I think that’s probably what we have in common. Other than that, I’m a very reserved and anxious person and I find her to be really kind of bold and impulsive a lot of the time. So there’s not a whole lot that we have in common, although it is really fun to write about someone that you are not like.  Matthew: Is there anybody in the original series or in these new books that you do see more of yourself in? Veronica: I think all the characters have as much of me as each other. They’re not based on me or other people. They grow out of the choices that they’re making. In this new series, early in the story, this Tris… I don’t think I’ll spoil that much by saying this, but something happens early in the story that opens her eyes to more of what’s actually going on in the world around her. I think that disillusionment ends up changing the character most of any of the other choices that she makes. She still feels like Tris, but she’s Tris with her eyes open. I think that is not based on any person, but it feels true to what it must be like to be 16 right now. This is a hard world that we’re living in and they’re aware of all of it. I think it was kind of inspired by that line of thinking about what it must be like to be their age right now. Matthew: You mentioned a new generation of readers, especially younger readers. If there are younger readers who did not read the original series, how would you like for them to engage with these new works? Do you feel that everybody would benefit from reading the original trilogy before they read these new stories? Are they intended to largely stand on their own as something you can jump into right now? Veronica: I think it would be interesting any way you go about it. You could not read the original, that’s fine. Just read this. Or you could read the original and then read this or the reverse. I think any way you do it offers some interesting insights. One thing I would like to do is that I will probably visit schools at some point because that was something I really loved doing when I was writing YA. What I’d love to talk to them about is feeling free to look at your old work and love it while being critical of it at the same time. Because I think with ChatGPT and all of that stuff, they can’t revise essays as much. I think being able to reapproach your old writing is… It’s an important skill that we all need to develop.[end-mark] The Sixth Faction publishes October 6, 2026 with HarperCollins. The post Veronica Roth on Returning to <i>Divergent</i> Through the Alternate Universe Story <i>The Sixth Faction</i> appeared first on Reactor.