Stars walk the red carpet for the Canadian premiere of The Divergent Series: Insurgent

Insurgent, the highly-anticipated second instalment in the wildly popular Divergent series, had its Canadian premiere last Tuesday night in Toronto, drawing some of the film's stars to the red carpet.

The sci-fi adventure, based on the second book in Veronica Roth's bestselling dystopian young adult novel trilogy,​centres on Tris and Four (played by Shailene Woodley and Theo James) who are now fugitives on the run in the ruins of a futuristic Chicago.

The city's faction system—in which citizens are divided into five groups based on personality traits— is crumbling and everyone is clamouring for power.

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Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet reprises her role as Jeanine, the leader of the power-hungry Erudite faction, who will stop at nothing to hunt down Tris and Four.

​Jai Courtney is back as the villainous Eric Coulter. But at Tuesday's premiere, the Australian actor tried to describe his character as "misunderstood".

"He's a complex character ... [he's] very insecure," Courtney told CBC's Deana Sumanac-johnson. "But, yah, he's definitely a villain," he admitted.

American actor Mekhi Phifer, who plays fellow baddy, Max, the leader of the Dauntless faction, also sought to paint a more nuanced portrait of his character.

"People always describe him as bad," said Phifer. "But I think he really believes in his code. I think he believes in the code of [bringing] order. Obviously, society is going toward disorder and I think he's really holding onto the future of mankind."

Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts and Ashley Judd round out a cast that's bursting with rising stars, like The Fault in Our Stars actor ​Ansel Elgort and Whiplash's Miles Teller.

The Divergent Series: Insurgent opens in theatres on Friday.

Watch Deana Sumanac-Johnson's interviews with the stars in the video above