New 'Hunger Games' Prequel Is Getting Adapted for the Big Screen

Woody Harrelson as Haymitch

Hunger Games fans, the odds are definitely in your favor. A new prequel novel in the series by Suzanne Collins is on the way, with a movie adaptation to follow.

"Suzanne Collins is a master storyteller and our creative north star," Adam Fogelson, chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said in a press release on June 6, 2024. "We couldn’t be more fortunate than to be guided and trusted by a collaborator whose talent and imagination are so consistently brilliant."

"We know Hunger Games fans worldwide will be spellbound by where Suzanne has focused this next extraordinary story," Fogelson continued. "The Second Quarter Quell is legendary and looms large over the history of the Games, even into the time of Katniss Everdeen a quarter-century later. Like fans around the globe, we are eagerly anticipating this exciting return to Panem."

Francis Lawrence, who has helmed every Hunger Games film since 2013's Catching Fire, is in talks to direct the forthcoming movie adaptation. Before we return to the world of Panem, here is everything to know about the next Hunger Games movie, adapted from the forthcoming book, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

What is the new Hunger Games book called?

The fifth book in the Hunger Games series, a prequel set between A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and the original series, is titled Sunrise on the Reaping.

Related: How to Read Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games Books in Order

When will the new Hunger Games book, Sunrise on the Reaping, be released?

Suzanne Collins’ highly-anticipated novel Sunrise on the Reaping will be published by Scholastic on March 18, 2025.

What is the release date for the movie, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping?

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is scheduled to be released on Nov. 20, 2026.

How to watch the new Hunger Games movie

The film will be released in theaters.

Related: Where Is the Cast of The Hunger Games Now?

What is the new Hunger Games book, Sunrise on the Reaping, about?

The book will "revisit the world of Panem twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell," according to Scholastic.

As fans of the series know, the second Quarter Quell is the games that Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) won. Catching Fire, the second book in the series, gave some insight into the second Quarter Quell, featuring a scene in which Katniss and Peeta watch Haymitch’s game; it also revealed that, in a twist, that particular game saw twice the tributes being drawn.

Ellie Berger, president of Scholastic Trade, has described the novel as a "remarkable book, bringing new complexity, perspective, and revelations to a piece of the Hunger Games story that readers have longed to know more about."

In a press release, Suzanne Collins said: "With Sunrise on the Reaping, I was inspired by David Hume’s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, ‘the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.’ The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative. The question ‘Real or not real?’ seems more pressing to me every day."

What is the next Hunger Games movie about?

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will be an adaptation of the fifth Hunger Games book, which is a prequel that chronicles the second Quarter 
Quell, a.k.a. the games that Haymitch Abernathy won. That Hunger Games saw double the number of tributes, so there will be 48 children, rather than 24 entering the ring.

Are there Sunrise on the Reaping spoilers?

Yes! While we don't know the full story of the 50th Hunger Games, there is plenty of available information about the second Quarter Quell to be found in the original series. First, we know that Haymitch Abernathy, a tribute from District 12 who would go on to be Katniss and Peeta's mentor, won the games. It's also stated that the arena for the 50th Hunger Games was breathtakingly gorgeous, but that nearly everything in it was poisonous, except for the food and water in the Cornucopia.

The Hunger Games series doesn't tell us much about the other tributes that year other than one of the other three District 12 tributes was Maysilee Donner, a friend of Katniss's mother.

Once in the arena, Maysilee and Haymitch hid together in the woods while a pack of career tributes hunted them down. After 18 tributes died in the initial bloodbath, five more were killed thanks to the poisonous arena. Another 12 were taken out when a volcano exploded, forcing the remaining 13 tributes into the woods.

Haymitch and Maysilee were able to work together, killing several of the career tributes while the elements eliminated others, whittling the pack down to five remaining competitors.

Maysilee was then killed by birds, and two other tributes were also eliminated, leaving Haymitch and a District 1 girl. The two endured a brutal fight that involved gouging out her eyes and gutting him with an axe before Haymitch used the force field at the edge of the arena to kill the District 1 girl with her own axe.

In retaliation for him using the force field which made the Capitol look silly, Haymitch's mother, brother and girlfriend were all murdered after the games and he became an alcoholic.

Sounds like this should be a cheery book/movie right?

Who is in the cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping?

Lionsgate hasn't announced the cast for the upcoming film, so we don't know yet who will play a young Haymitch. Check back for updates as more information is revealed.

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