Entertainment
The 15th anniversary of Divergent is here, but Veronica Roth isnt done with the series
On Jan. 13, 2026, Veronica Roth published a newsletter entitled “Do I Like It? Reflecting on Divergent After 15 Years,” in which she addresses just how she feels about her bestselling Divergent series. Despite selling over 32 million copies worldwide and launching a series of film adaptations, the negative reception often rings loudest. The series ending is divisive among fans, and as Roth aptly says on Substack, “Your brain is good at keeping you safe by storing negative experiences.”
And despite publishing 10 books outside of the series, readers still come back to Divergent, with Roth saying in her newsletter: “And the people who hated Divergent? They really hated it, and often go out of their way to tell me why…whenever I try to talk about any new work. Or old work. Or any work.”
Yet, the author has not ceased writing. Seek the Traitor’s Son, the first book in a new romantic dystopian fantasy series by Roth, is coming May 12, 2026. But maybe more surprisingly, it’s not the only series Roth has coming this year because on Oct. 6, 2026, the Divergent series continues with The Sixth Faction, the first in a new duology.
At BookCon 2026, Roth announced the series to her fandom after keeping the long-held secret. But it’s neither a sequel nor a prequel to her original series; instead, it’s an alternate universe in which the heroine, Beatrice Prior, makes a different choice at her Choosing Ceremony.
We had the chance to sit down with Roth at BookCon 2026 to hear about her new fantasy series and just how she feels about Divergent with the announcement of The Sixth Faction.
Samantha Mangino: How are you feeling about the 15th anniversary of Divergent?
Veronica Roth: I feel good about it. Writing [The Sixth Faction] books, because they’re both done, really did help me to like feel more positively about the series. It doesn’t like bother me as much when people talk to me about Divergent because I don’t feel like I’m stuck in the past, because I’m writing something new, so it feels like we’re talking about what I’m doing now instead of what I was doing when I was 24, which is more restorative, regenerative, and exciting for a creative person.
SM: You’re very matter-of-fact when talking about your writing. Do you think that’s something that’s just come with time and being able to look back?
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VR: I think this is honestly just how I am. I’ve got a Polish mother, and I live in the Midwest, so I think we’re just really straightforward people. It doesn’t cost me anything, and so I do it. I’m a terrible liar.
SM: Do you feel like this post-Divergent mindset led you to being able to write Seek the Traitor’s Son? Or was it something that felt like a natural progression?
VR: I worked on Seek the Traitor’s Son over the course of five years and 10 drafts. It was just a joyful project for me. It’s full of everything that I love, and I also learned important lessons from it, about keeping stories intimate, even though the backdrop is big and epic. And you know I couldn’t have written The Sixth Faction without that because I needed to be able to not think about all the things that Divergent is, and just focus on the story and the characters that I love. So Seek the Traitor’s Son taught me how to do that.
SM: Divergent is a massively popular and widely beloved thing, but I think it also falls into opinionated internet conversations. I’m curious, how that has felt like it’s affected your writing generally?
VR: I think it has been a challenge to navigate because it’s a lot of negativity, even though it’s also a lot of positivity. And as I’ve discussed, I’m much better at retaining negativity than positivity. That’s just how my brain works. What I’ve been able to do is create a safe space for myself in my writing. I think with the process of writing Seek the Traitor’s Son, that’s kinda what I was doing because it wasn’t for anyone else. It was a healing book.
SM: Do you have to set boundaries with yourself in online spaces to stay in a clear mindset while writing?
VR: I have rules, so if someone’s mean to me, I block them. I set up filters, sometimes I have to filter myself because the algorithm is like, ‘you might be interested in this,’ but, no, I’m not — I don’t wanna see that. I don’t make anyone else responsible for my emotional well-being — that’s my other rule. But it is fun to engage with readers, so you wanna talk to them and answer their questions and joke around with them. It’s just a bunch of people talking about books; we all love books.
SM: I’m wondering if you’ve noticed a change in internet spaces now compared to when you published Divergent in 2011?
VR: I think it feels pretty much the same, but the platforms are different. My real thought about it is that it is my responsibility to develop a sufficient amount of resilience. To deal with some negativity, because that is the nature of being a public person. It was the nature of my sister working in a J. Crew. As an adult, everyone is required to tolerate some people being unkind to you — that’s existing in the world. But you’re also allowed to defend yourself and to separate yourself from things that are toxic. So I try and balance those two things. I can’t control people. I can only control me.
SM: After taking a break from Divergent, do you feel like you’re carrying any new wisdom into The Sixth Faction?
VR: Stories about young people have changed because the world has changed. So in this book, Tris is a little less of, ‘I will save the world on my own,’ and a little more of a 16-year-old navigating a very difficult sociopolitical situation that she is not prepared for. And that just feels like the reality of being a teenager right now, and I wanted the story to speak to that. When you get a little bit more life under your belt, as a person and as a writer, you’re able to approach the series with a new perspective.
Entertainment
Get Ankers 14-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Dock for $60 less at Amazon
SAVE 15%: As of April 22, you can get the Anker Prime 14-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Dock for $339.99, down from $399.99, at Amazon. That’s a 15% discount or $60 savings.
$339.99
at Amazon
$399.99
Save $60
Working off a laptop is great until you realize you only have two ports and need to plug something in. If you’re hooked up to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse, you’re pretty much out of luck on the rest. Not only that, but your previously uncluttered desk will most likely look like a Best Buy exploded (a rat’s nest of cords isn’t cute or helpful for anyone getting work done).
If you literally hate mess and cords as much as I do, you need a docking station to hide all that chaos and protect your aesthetic. Right now, Anker’s Prime TB5 Docking Station is on sale for $339.99 at Amazon, down from $399.99. (That’s a $60 price cut.)
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Are you going to use all 14 ports at the exact same time? Probably not, but you’ll never have to dig through your bag for a specific adapter again. You just plug a single cable into your laptop, and the dock handles the rest. It features a Thunderbolt 5 upstream port, two Thunderbolt 5 downstream ports, two USB-C ports, three USB-A ports, SD and TF card readers, a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, an audio jack, and your choice of HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort 2.1. It’s also fast enough to transfer a 150GB file in 25 seconds.
Entertainment
How I scored ad-free Paramount+ Premium for only 99 cents
SAVE $26: As of April 22, returning subscribers can score two months of ad-free Paramount+ Premium for only 99 cents per month with the code N8C27L. Usually $13.99 per month, that’s $26 in savings. Just note that your mileage may vary.
$0.99/month for 2 months (save $13/month) with code N8C27L
If you’re looking to save some money on your streaming lineup, my number one recommendation is to cancel your subscriptions. While it doesn’t work for every streamer, many will offer you a special discount to come back. Not to mention, you’ll be eligible for any new deals that may appear that are marketed to “new and returning customers.” Case in point: as of April 22, returning subscribers can get two months of ad-free Paramount+ Premium for just 99 cents per month.
I’ve tested this out myself, so I can vouch for it. When you navigate to Paramount+ and sign in to your existing account, you’ll be prompted to pick a plan. Select the Paramount+ Premium monthly plan for $13.99 per month. On the “Welcome back!” page, scroll down to the box that says “Have a promo code?” and enter N8C27L. Once you hit “apply” the price should drop to just 99 cents per month.
Credit: Paramount+
That’s all, folks. You can take advantage of two full months of ad-free Paramount+, Showtime, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, CBS live TV, UFC fights, and more for less than two bucks. That’s $26 total in savings.
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Paramount+ has a surprisingly hefty library. Subscribers can enjoy Paramount+ Originals like Landman and RuPaul Drag Race All Stars, Showtime series like Dexter Resurrection and Yellowjackets, CBS hits like Survivor and NCIS, and nostalgic shows from Nickelodeon and MTV. Not to mention, there’s a lineup of movies that’ll keep you fully entertained for your two-month promotional period. Just be sure to cancel again before the second month is over if you want to avoid paying full cost. You can always sign up again when another deal arises. I know I will.
Entertainment
How Stargate SG-1 Used A Classic Trope To Emotionally Wreck Its Fans
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Garfield and Friends said it best: “Oh no, we’ve resorted to an evil twin storyline.” Star Trek: The Original Series did it the best with Mirror Universe Spock, and ever since, it’s been a lazy excuse for every series to use when they run out of ideas. The exception is Stargate SG-1’s sixth episode, “Cold Lazarus,” which plays with the trope by making the twin less evil and more confused.
When fans say they skip this episode when rewatching, it’s not because it’s a lazy, poorly written episode. In fact, it’s the opposite. The ending of “Cold Lazarus” is a pivotal character moment for Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and a gut punch to the audience.
Stargate SG-1’s First Evil Twin
“Cold Lazarus” opens with the SG-1 team on a planet that doesn’t look like Vancouver (it was a giant pile of sulfur at the port of Vancouver). The desert landscape is dotted with shattered blue crystals that look like the remnants of a civilization until we see a crystal eye-view of O’Neill, a mysterious light knocks him out, and all of a sudden, a second O’Neill is looking down at the first. Turns out, the crystals are the civilization.
Fake O’Neill is trying to figure out who O’Neill is and what SGC is all about. When he pulls out photos of his family, it takes Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) by surprise. O’Neill’s never mentioned his wife, Sara, or his son, Charlie. Confused, the Fake O’Neill goes to the home, where Sara is disgusted he’d come by and thinks it’s a sick joke that he’s asking about Charlie. If you’re wondering if you missed a key part of O’Neill’s backstory, don’t worry, this is the first time that either Sara or Charlie is mentioned, and tragically, we soon learn why.
No One Ever Dies
Charlie shot himself with O’Neill’s gun. Fake O’Neill starts to piece this together when he goes into Charlie’s old room and breaks down, prompting Sara and him to finally have the conversation about their shared grief. Back in SGC, the crystal’s nature is revealed to be an energy alien calling itself Unity, which accidentally killed a Jaffa, and the Goa’uld shattered them in retribution. That’s when O’Neill stumbles back through the Stargate, and the team realizes the mistake they made.
The Fake O’Neill is soon captured at a local hospital, suffering from Earth’s radiation, where he explains that he sensed O’Neill’s pain after he took his form and wanted to help ease the suffering, as nothing ever truly dies to Unity. To prove its point, Unity transforms into Charlie, giving O’Neill and Sara one last chance to see their child. Fans who haven’t lost a child can understand the emotion, but for fans who have, this scene is emotional torture, in the best way possible.
Jack knows this isn’t Charlie, but he talks to him like he is, and then they walk together through the Stargate back to Unity’s planet. It’s a beautiful moment that explains so much about O’Neill’s throwing himself into work and how even his friendships remain professional. “Cold Lazarus” may have started out with the “evil twin” trope in full effect, but the ending is proof that even early during its run, Stargate SG-1 was going to be the greatest.
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