Divergent made changes to the novel it’s based on, and one of its villains went through big changes that made him a lot less violent but also more terrifying. In 2014, joining the trend of dystopian young adult novels getting film adaptations, came Divergent, directed by Neil Burger and based on Veronica Roth’s novel of the same name. Divergent introduced a post-apocalyptic Chicago, where, as a result of a war that happened years before the events of the movie, society was divided into five factions focused on specific activities to ensure balance and peace.

Divergent follows Beatrice “Tris” Prior (Shailene Woodley), born in the Abnegation faction, who learns she’s a Divergent as she doesn’t fit in just one faction. After moving to Dauntless, she meets Four (Theo James), who helps her in her initiation training and later reveals himself to be a Divergent, too. Once in Dauntless, Tris makes new friends but also meets some unpleasant people with shady intentions. Among them was Peter (Miles Teller), who is very different from his book version, yet the movie made him more terrifying by toning down his anger.

Divergent Made Miles Teller’s Peter Less Violent But More Believable

Peter Is Way Too Violent In The Divergent Novel

Divergent sees characters from different factions choosing to move to Dauntless, one of them Peter Hayes. Peter was born in Candor but chose Dauntless, which was definitely a lot more fitting with his personality. In the novel, Peter was described as having an angelic face, but he was far from what his innocent appearance showed. Peter was very violent, aggressive, cruel, and ill-tempered, thus earning a villain spot in the Divergent book series.

Just like in the movie, Peter mocked Tris by calling her “stiff”, but he did a lot more than that. During the sparring in training, he beat Tris until she was unconscious, he made fun of her body and even pulled off her towel after she showered. Frustrated over the results of the first stage of their training, Peter stabbed Edward in the eye with a butter knife, and as seen in the movie, he led other Dauntless members to attack Tris, during which he felt her up before pushing her over the railing.

Teller’s version of Peter was also an antagonist in Divergent, although a minor one compared to his role in the books, and he was a lot less violent and aggressive. While, unfortunately, there are cruel people like Peter in the real world, bringing a character like this to the big screen from a book, and in a dystopian context, risked turning him into a caricature rather than a threat. However, by toning Peter’s violence and cruelty down and giving him some comedic hints, Divergent made Peter more terrifying as he was a believable character, the type of bully that you could find anywhere.

What Happened To Peter After Allegiant

Allegiant Was Supposed To Get A Sequel Titled Ascendant

The Divergent movie series was supposed to split the final novel, Allegiant, into two parts, but those plans weren’t fulfilled. The first part, Allegiant, was released in 2016, but it was a critical and commercial failure, leading to the cancelation of the second part, titled Ascendant. In the movie Allegiant, Peter once more showed how much of a traitor he was and sided with David to convince Evelyn to deploy a stockpile of amnesia gas. However, after realizing David’s betrayal, he helped Tris and Four but fled back towards the Bureau while Four vowed to find and kill him.

In the book, Peter joined the four-man team to save the people of Chicago by having their memories wiped by the memory serum. Peter expressed his desire to reset his memories as he no longer wanted to be mean and cruel, regretting his many cruel actions. Peter retained some of his cruel traits but was considerably less evil and violent, showing that he was a good person, after all. It’s unknown if Ascendant would have seen Peter’s redemption, but his story in the Divergent movie series ended on a not-so-promising note.