Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are returning to the world of Panem to reprise their roles as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark from the originalHunger Gamesfilms for the prequel,The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,multipleoutletsreported.
Lionsgate will release the new film, which is adapted from author Suzanne Collins's dystopian novel of the same name, in theaters on Nov. 20, 2026.
Sunrise on the Reapingis set 24 years before Katniss and Peeta stepped onto the deadly field as reluctant tributes representing District 12. Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), who was the sole surviving victor of previous Hunger Games from District 12, served as a mentor for Katniss and Peeta.
The story ofSunrisefocuses on 16-year-old Haymitch, portrayed by Joseph Zada, as he fights to survive his own Hunger Games — all while refusing to bend the knee to the ruthless Capitol, which selects twice the number of tributes. Haymitch and 47 other children are sent into the deadly arena.
While no specifics have been released about Lawrence and Hutcherson's roles in the upcoming movie, Collins'sSunrise on the Reapingnovel has a flash-forward scene with a grown Katniss and Peeta, where Haymitch recounts his experience in the Hunger Games to them.
Hutcherson toldVarietyin November, "I would love to be back on set with [director] Francis [Lawrence], with Jen, with Liam, with Woody [Harrelson]," the star said. "It would not take any convincing at all. I'd be there in a heartbeat."
Sunrise on the Reapingis the sixth movie in the Hunger Games franchise and comes after the 2023 adaptation ofThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which starred Tom Blyth as a young President Snow and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, a singer forced to compete in the Hunger Games.
Lionsgate dropped astar-studdedteaser for the new movie back in November, including Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Ralph Fiennes as President Snow, Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket and Glenn Close as Drusilla Sickle.
