The Divergent Series: Insurgent Behind-the-Scenes Video Shows Transformation of Shailene Woodley's Tris—Watch!

Movie also stars Theo James, Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney, Zoë Kravitz and an almost unrecognizable Naomi Watts

By Corinne Heller Jan 16, 2015 8:27 PMTags

Shailene Woodley's character undergoes a physical and emotional transformation and performs fiery, gravity defying stunts that would make Dauntless proud in Insurgent, as seen in a sneak peek behind-the-scenes video.

The actress reprises her role as Tris in the movie, the sequel to the 2014 sci-fi and action film Divergent, also stars returning actors Theo James as her boyfriend Four, Kate Winslet as the villain Jeanine, Jai Courtney as her new henchman Eric, Zoë Kravitz as pal Christina, Ansel Elgort as her brother Caleb and Milles Teller as her frenemy, Peter.

Spoiler alert!

Summit Entertainment

Woodley sports her own strawberry blonde pixie cut in the movie. Tris is shown starting to cut her own long tresses.

Tris is recovering from the recent loss of her parents, who were killed in DivergentAshley Judd, who played Tris' mother, Natalie, appears to her daughter in Insurgent. In the book, Tris cuts her hair into a shoulder-length style, stating, "How can I look the same, when she's gone and everything is different?"

In Insurgent, the second book, Tris, Four, Caleb and Peter are on the run from Jeanine and her loyalists. The sneak peek video, which followed a second trailer released in December, shows extended action scenes, some filmed in front a green screen. Woodley hangs from wires, leaps off skyscrapers and platforms and stands on a burning sphere. She also showcases some impressive hand-to-hand combat skills.

The group takes refuge at the compound of Amity, a peace-loving, farming group that is one of the four factions of their dystopian society. Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer plays their leader, Johanna. They also encounters the "factionless," and among them, Four's long-lost mother, Evelyn, played by an almost unrecognizable Naomi Watts.

Both movies are based on Veronica Roth's young adult trilogy of novels. The stories are set inside and around Chicago in a post-apocalyptic world in which teens are forced to join one of the four factions, each serving a function and characterized by certain personality traits, based on personal choice and inspired by results of a simulation test. In Divergent, we learn that Tris and Four made the leap from the group they were born into, the altruistic Abnegation, to Dauntless, the police force.

Both Tris, officially classified as a "divergent" due to inconclusive test results and the ability to think outside the box, and her beau are singled out by power-hungry Jeanine's loyalists after appearing unaffected by a mind-control serum used on Dauntless members to create an army tasked with killing traitors. Virtual reality simulations and mind-altering serums are often used on the characters in the stories, where plot twists are also frequent.

Insurgent hits theaters on March 20.