Evelyn Johnson-Eaton in Divergent: Who She Is and Who Plays Her

Evelyn Johnson-Eaton is the leader of the Factionless, the people who live outside the five factions of walled Chicago, and she is the mother of Tobias "Four" Eaton. Naomi Watts plays her in insurgent movie, directed by Robert Schwentke, and again in allegiant movie, also directed by Schwentke. She is absent from divergent 2014, directed by Neil Burger, so viewers first meet her when Tris, Four, Caleb and Peter leave the Amity compound, board a train and run into the Factionless.

The naming can confuse people. The credits list her as Evelyn Johnson-Eaton, and Insurgent introduces her as Four's mother, while Four himself is Tobias Eaton. The same surname appears in the Insurgent cast list for Marcus Eaton, played by Ray Stevenson. Her billing rises from ninth in Insurgent to fifth in Allegiant, which fits a character who moves from a rebel at the edge of the story to the person running the city.

The Factionless matter because they are the fate that hangs over every Dauntless initiate who is ranked too low in the first film. Evelyn turns that fate into a power base, and her opening offer in Insurgent is direct: she wants her son to help her build an army against Erudite. For a fuller look at the groups she commands and opposes, see divergent factions.

Evelyn's most important relationship is with Four, because her major decisions in the later films depend on whether he will stand with her. In Insurgent he turns down her plan for an army. In Allegiant, with the amnesia gas about to be released, his appeal is what makes her stop. Their scenes carry more weight than her speeches do, which suits a character defined by what she wants from her son.

Marcus Eaton, played by Ray Stevenson, shares the Eaton surname in the cast lists of both films. Her enmity with Jeanine Matthews is more direct: the Factionless free Tris and Four, Jeanine is arrested, and Evelyn then kills her in custody. That single act settles the first conflict and starts a new one. You can read Jeanine's side of the story on the jeanine matthews page.

With Tris, the link runs through Four. Tris's own story, including how she opens the box, is on the tris prior page, and Four's is on the four divergent page. In Allegiant, Peter, who has his own page at peter hayes divergent, shoots Evelyn in the leg after realizing David has betrayed him, and then opens the vault so Tris and Four can halt the gas.

Evelyn is at her most effective in three scenes, and in my opinion each one works because it complicates how the audience should feel about her.

The first is the meeting on the train in Insurgent. She arrives as the answer to the group's problems, a refuge and an ally against Erudite, and only then does she ask her son to lead an army. That is an efficient way to introduce a character who is both a rescuer and a recruiter, and it sets up the tension that lasts to the end of Allegiant.

The second is the killing of Jeanine in her cell. Jeanine is the main antagonist of the first two films, so it could be argued that her death should be a release. Instead, it is the moment when the audience learns that the Factionless victory comes with its own danger. It is a quiet scene compared with the set pieces around it, and perhaps all the better for that.

The third is Four's appeal in Allegiant, when he convinces her to stop the amnesia gas. Perhaps the film does not give Naomi Watts as much room here as the idea deserves, since Evelyn's reversal happens quickly. Even so, it pays off the choice Four made in Insurgent, and it shows that her ambition has a limit when it is set against her son.