We’ve confirmed that Hunger Games canon stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are returning for Lionsgate’s next prequel The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
While the prequel is set in the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, there’s a scene in the new Suzanne Collins book where a grown Peeta (Hutcherson) and Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) listen to Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson in the original movies) as he recounts his Hunger Game to them.
Sunrise on the Reaping begins on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. The story centers on 16-year-old Haymitch (Joseph Zada), (he beomes the mentor to Katniss and Peeta), a clever and resourceful boy from District 12, who’s unexpectedly chosen for this edition of the games, featuring a deadly twist: twice the number of tributes, with 48 children sent into the arena to battle for their lives.
Lionsgate didn’t return request for comment.
The news isn’t alarming: Hutcherson has been asked about his return in the new movie while during press tours. The actor is coming off a hot weekend with Blumhouse/Universal’s Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 which opened to $64M, a record start for a movie in the post-Thanksgiving frame. Oscar winner Lawrence landed her seventh Golden Globe nomination on Monday for Mubi’s Die My Love in the Female Actor Motion Picture Drama category (the Oscar winner already has three Golden Globe wins).
“That’d be cool. No, I know nothing in that world right now,” Hutcherson clarified to Brit + Co back in August. “Hunger Games is amazing, and I’ve loved it for many years and I will love it forever.”
Sunrise on the Reaping hits theaters on Nov. 20, 2026. The pic’s first trailer became Lionsgate’s second biggest trailer launch ever in the studio’s history with 109M views in its first 24 hours, following the studio’s Michael trailer which clocked 116M views in its first 24 hours. Deadline first told you about those trailer stats.
Francis Lawrence, who has directed four out of the five movies in The Hunger Games franchise which have grossed $3.4 billion around the world. The five novels have sold more than 100M copies globally and have been translated into 52 languages. Sunrise on the Reaping sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide in its first week, marking the biggest debut for any title in Collins’ Hunger Games book series. In the U.S. alone, the book sold 1.2 million copies, more than twice the opening sales of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and over three times that of Mockingjay.
Oscar nominated screenwriter Billy Ray adapted Sunrise on the Reaping. Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson produce for Color Force, while Cameron MacConomy executive produces.
