Insurgent Casts Two 'New' Dauntless Characters

Insurgent, the second book in Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy, introduces a number of new characters to the story. Dauntless-born initiates Uriah and Lynn weren't among them, as they were both technically introduced in Divergent. However, as neither of these characters appeared in the feature adaptation of Divergent, the roles have only just been cast for Insurgent. So while these characters are "new" to the films, they've been around since the first book. Uriah will be played by Keiynan Lonsdale, while Lynn will be played by Rosa Salazar...

Lonsdale and Salazar's characters are actually linked in the books, as both are Dauntless-born initiates and they're close friends in the story. The two are part of a trio that includes Marlene, set to be played by Suki Waterhouse, who was cast a couple of weeks ago...

Those who've read the book know that some tension arrises within this trio as Uriah and Marlene grow closer. In the books,Tris meets Uriah during the paintball challenge in Divergent, and the two become friends when he invites her to do the zip lining ritual with some of the other Dauntless initiates. But since Uriah, Marlene and Lynn weren't featured in the first film, their introductions will happen during Insurgent, as Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) search for allies in the wake of -- Divergent spoiler alert -- the uprising at the end of the first film.

Parenthood fans may recognize Rosa Salazar for playing the role of Zoe a couple of seasons back. (Zoe was the pregnant girl whose unborn child Julia and Joel wanted to adopt). Salazar's other credits include a number of CollegeHumor videos, the first season of American Horror Story and an appearance in Stephen Merchant's unfortunately-cancelled comedy Hello Ladies.

Keiynan Lonsdale may be less recognizable, as he's more of a newcomer to the U.S.. His most notable listed credit is the part of Ollie in the Australian TV series Dance Academy. He and Salazar join Daniel Dae Kim, Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer among the other actors joining the Divergent franchise for the second film.

Directed by Robert Schwentke, Insurgent is in production now in Atlanta, GA and is set to arrive in theaters March 20, 2015. The DVD/Blu-ray for Divergent arrives in stores in August.

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.