Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson will return to The Hunger Games franchise for the forthcoming prequel.
Both actors shot to fame playing Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, competitors in a battle royale contest held by an authoritarian government in a dystopian future. The original four Hunger Games films, based on the novels by Suzanne Collins, were released between 2012 and 2015, all becoming box office hits. A prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, was released in 2023.
Now, both actors will be returning to their roles for a second prequel – The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping. Scheduled to be released on November 20, 2026, the film is set on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, 24 years before the events of the first film.
Joseph Zada stars as Haymitch Abernathy, a young District 12 tribute who goes on to mentor Katniss in later years. He is played by Woody Harrelson in the original films. Jesse Plemons also stars as a young Plutarch Heavensbee, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in previous films; while Ralph Fiennes plays the villainous President Coriolanus Snow.
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An article by The Hollywood Reporter states that both Lawrence and Hutcherson will return in their roles. However, given the story is set before their characters are born, they are expected to appear in flash-forwards. No official news on the nature of their appearances has been disclosed.
Sunrise On The Reaping will be directed by Francis Lawrence, who helmed four of the five previous movies, with the first movie’s screenwriter, Billy Ray, also returning.
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Recently, film director Quentin Tarantino criticised The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins for “ripping off” 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, which has a similar plotline of teenagers forced to fight to the death by the government. The Pulp Fiction filmmaker said on the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast: “I do not understand how the Japanese writer didn’t sue Suzanne Collins for every fucking thing she owns,”