A whole new Hunger Games prequel book, and consequently film, are in the works. After The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Sunrise on the Reaping will take viewers back to Panem, reports Variety. While the film will be released in 2026, here’s everything we know so far. 

A new Hunger Games film

Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, is writing a new book called Sunrise on the Reaping, which will be released in 2025. An adaptation of the book is slated for release in theatres on November 20, 2026. Francis Lawrence, who directed every Hunger Games installment since Catching Fire in 2013, is in talks to direct the film.

Sunrise on the Reaping story

Sunrise on the Reaping will revisit the world of Panem 24 years before the events in the Hunger Games trilogy and 40 years after the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The story will start on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, the Second Quarter Quell. Haymitch Abernathy, portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the films, will be the story's centre. Haymitch later mentors Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss and Josh Hutcherson's Peeta in the 74th Hunger Games.

Suzanne, the master storyteller

In a statement, Adam Fogelson, chairman of Lionsgate said, “Suzanne Collins is a master storyteller and our creative north star. We couldn’t be more fortunate than to be guided and trusted by a collaborator whose talent and imagination are so consistently brilliant. 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.”

The film franchise

The Hunger Games film franchise has made more than $3.3 billion at the box office worldwide, with Catching Fire being the highest-grossing film with $865 million. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes didn’t live up to the original saga but managed to turn a profit due to its budget. That film was focused on a young Coriolanus Snow, who later became Panem's tyrannical leader.

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