New Hunger Games Book And Movie Will Explore Haymitch's 50th Hunger Games

6 June 2024, 14:42 | Updated: 6 June 2024, 17:17

By Katie Louise Smith

Sunrise on the Reaping will take place 24 years before The Hunger Games and Katniss' story, and will focus on the 50th Hunger Games.

It's official – The Hunger Games franchise is finally set to explore Haymitch Abernathy's historic games in a brand new prequel book, titled Sunrise on the Reaping.

Author Suzanne Collins has just announced that she is set to release the fifth book in the Hunger Games series, which will be published on March 18th 2025. That will then be followed by a film adaptation, released on November 20th 2026.

Sunrise on the Reaping will begin with the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, set 24 years before Katniss' story begins, and 40 years after the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Fans of the novels (and the films) will know that the 50th Hunger Games was the one that saw a young Haymitch emerge as the victor after beating 47 other tributes. While it's not been confirmed that he will be the main character, it seems highly likely that fans will finally get to see how his journey in the games unfolds.

• Read more: Hunger Games fans want a prequel movie about Haymitch's backstory

Back in 2023, shortly after the film release of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, fans began sharing the characters they'd love to see explored in further prequels. Coriolanus Snow's backstory – and history with Lucy Gray Baird – was explored so brilliantly in TBOSAS, it left fans desperate to see more.

Haymitch Abernathy (played by Woody Harrelson in the original film trilogy) has long been at the top of fans' wishlists when it comes to prequels. 16-year-old Haymitch was the victor in the 50th Hunger Games, which saw 48 tributes fight to the death instead of the usual 24. (Four tributes – two girls and two boys – from each district took part in the second Quarter Quell.)

At this point in the story, Coriolanus Snow has been president of Panem for a couple of decades. So anyone hoping to see glimpses of their beloved Coryo from TBOSAS... he no longer exists! He'll be in full tyrannical dictator mode now.

Speaking about the inspirations for the book, Suzanne said in a statement: "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."

No other details about the plot of the book have been released.

Shortly after the book news was announced, it was confirmed that a new Hunger Games film will be heading our way in 2026.

'Sunrise on the Reaping' will hit cinemas on November 20th 2026. No casting announcements have been made yet but it's possible that The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes' Tom Blyth could return as a much older President Snow.

Until then, everyone say: Thank you Suzanne Collins, and thank you Rachel Zegler!

Read more from Capital Buzz here:

• Sam Claflin says he wants to play Finnick's dad in Hunger Games prequel
• Hunger Games' Rachel Zegler sang live for every Lucy Gray singing scene
• Hunger Games fans spot huge easter egg in Snow's Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes costumes
• Here's how Hunger Games' Jason Schwartzman 'improvised' his scenes as Lucky Flickerman
• How does Katniss know 'The Hanging Tree' song? Hunger Games' Lucy Gray legacy explained

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