The Divergent promotion continues without pause. This story won’t be as interesting as a Twilight-slamming, nature weapon-wielding post about Shailene Woodley. She does have a co-star, and his name is Theo James. He plays the Four character and is (potentially) poised for franchise superstardom if the movie does well. I have my doubts that there are enough fans of the series who aren’t upset about the trilogy’s ending. Seriously, the ending is a slap in the face and ruins all three of the books in the space of a few pages. No spoilers.

Theo sat down with GQ to talk about starring as an attractive male character in a young-adult franchise. This is a similar situation as with Sam Claflin, who was cast as Finnick in Catching Fire and quickly realized that “some people get a little obsessed.” Sam had a right to be frightened because the nature of the Finnick character is to draw throngs of adoring fans. The same goes for Robert Pattinson, who couldn’t shoot a non-Twilight movie in NYC without teenage girls chasing the dream of the Byronic Edward Cullen. Kellan Lutz would like to think that Kellan Lutz has the same problem, but Kellan Lutz is deluded.

Will Theo have the same issue with a raging fandom? GQ is betting on it. We already covered GQ’s Theo photoshoot from its March issue, but now they’re releasing more bits and pieces from the interview. The journo dares to title the piece, “Is Theo the next Leo?” LOL:

His own teenage reading material: James, who studied philosophy in college but looks more like a mediterranean shipping heir than a bookish brit, plays a disillusioned badass who helps start an uprising in the dystopic near-future. James admits that he was at first hesitant to do a YA project, though growing up, “I probably pretended I was reading, like, Sartre or something, but it was all Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.”

Soon to be a household name? While he’s starred in a bunch of British TV, James, 29, is not well-known to American audiences apart from a short-lived cbs cop show (not terrible) and a notorious Downton Abbey cameo in which he died having sex with one of the ladies (honestly, just weird). The magnitude by which that’s going to change is silly to speculate about. Maybe in a few months, when Divergent becomes the next Twilight/Hunger Games and theo James the next Rob Pattinson, he will settle into being the kind of person who is photographed at Lakers games wearing beanies and cord necklaces. For the moment, though, there’s a wide-eyed disbelief at the world he now inhabits. Still, he seems to be getting an inkling, warily, of what’s to come. Near the end of our conversation, I asked if he’d seen a montage of his clips someone had strung together scored to “SexyBack.” “That’s hilarious!” he exclaimed, then paused. “Oh f—.”

[From GQ]

The title of the piece is so cheesy and was chosen not only because Leo DiCaprio was a teen idol but because Leo and Theo rhyme. Duh. The RPattz comparison is even more obvious. Summit Entertainment is desperate to draw parallels between its current stars and leading actors of successful YA franchises. That’s why Hollywood Reporter came out swinging last week with an announcement that Shailene is the new Jennifer Lawrence. I think Theo has even less of a chance than Shailene for making such a “prediction” come true. He’s a good looking guy but seems so wooden. Is he dreamy? I don’t see the need for him to worry about throngs of fangirls. But I could be wrong.

Photos courtesy of GQ & WENN