Theo James Said His Relationship With Shailene Woodley Mirrored Tris and Four’s

It’s been years since the last Divergent movie premiered in theatres. However, that hasn’t stopped some fans from talking about Shailene Woodley and Theo James. Even though Woodley was engaged to Aaron Rodgers and James is a married man, some fans still ship the actors together. While the pair were working on the Divergent movies, they seemed to get along famously. So well, in fact, that the media speculated that the pair were dating. But what was their relationship really like?

Shailene Woodley and Theo James played a couple in the ‘Divergent’ movies

In the Divergent movies, James and Woodley portrayed Tobias “Four” Eaton and Beatrice “Tris” Prior. The unexpected duo had a fair amount in common. Both made the decision to transfer to the Dauntless faction from Abnegation. Furthermore, in the first film, they are both hiding the fact that they are divergent from the rest of the world.

The relationship between Tris and Four was a bit of a slow burn. And, according to James, the same was true of the relationship between him and Woodley. Though the pair had instant chemistry, the Downton Abbey alum admitted that there was a bit of trepidation at first. As Woodley was becoming a well-known star when James first met her, he didn’t quite know what to expect. In an interview with Elle, James explained the parallels between his relationship with Woodley and that of their characters.

The ‘Sanditon’ star revealed that his relationship with Woodley was similar to that of Tris and Four

“Our relationship naturally mirrors the relationship between Tris and Four,” James shared about working with Woodley. “When you start a movie, you don’t really know each other, you’re trying to feel each other out. There’s a bit of excitement, nervousness—who are these people? Are they going to piss me off? Or am I going to think they’re awesome? Or whatever. And then as you get to know each other, more true feelings of friendship and caring come in.”

Continuing on, James explained how his natural rapport with Woodley was similar to their characters. “And that’s the same with Tris and Four,” he added. “She doesn’t know who he is: Is he dangerous? What’s his agenda? And he can’t really figure her out. She kind of pisses him off, but he also has this affinity and instant love for her, and as the story kind of progresses, it becomes a love story.”

James got candid about working with Woodley

Though Four and Tris may have had some tense moments at first, that wasn’t the case with Woodley and James. They seemed to hit it off right from the beginning. The pair’s natural chemistry lent itself to the love story that is woven throughout Divergent. Over time, they developed a real friendship with one another.

“She’s a very open and fun person, and that always helps,” James shared of Woodley. “Especially if you have a bit of natural chemistry, inevitably, it’s going to make the scene better, and we definitely had good chemistry from that start, which is something you always hope for, whenever you get stuck in a love story for the next however long.”