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Hunger Games: What does the sequel have in store for us?
After five successful films, the Hunger Games saga will unveil a new opus in November 2026. Subtitled Sunrise on the Reaping, this next chapter will star Elle Fanning, Glenn Close and Maya Hawke. News came out that Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson should be back in this film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s literary saga.
By Violaine Schütz,
and The Editorial Team.
Published on 25 November 2025. Updated on 14 April 2026.
The grand return of the Hunger Games saga
From 2012 to 2015, the four films from the Hunger Games saga were a huge success, grossing nearly three billion dollars at the box office. Led by actress Jennifer Lawrence, alongside Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, the story was set in a dystopian America. Each year, the twelve districts of the renamed nation of Panem were forced to send one boy and one girl. Known as “tributes”, they will participate in the Hunger Games, a nationally broadcast event in which they have to fight to death.
After Hunger Games (2012), Catching Fire (2013), Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014), and Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015), another epic feature, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, was released in November 2023.
A chapter titled The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
The first four films were based on the trilogy written by American novelist Suzanne Collins. And this new instalment makes no exception and will be adapted from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, published in May 2020. Far removed from Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), the book is set sixty-four years before the events of the first volume. The story traces back the early years of Coriolanus Snow. The story takes place decades before he would become the tyrannical president of Panem.
He used to serve as a mentor for District 12, in the years following the era known as the “Dark Days,” the first failed rebellion of Panem. The synopsis of this prequel? “Young Coriolanus is the last hope of his lineage — the once-proud Snow family has fallen into disgrace in a postwar Capitol. As the 10th Hunger Games are about to begin, he is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, a girl tribute from District 12, the poorest and most reviled district in Panem. Captivating the audience with her charm, Lucy Gray offers Snow a chance to turn the odds in their favour.”
Elle Fanning, Maya Hawke and Jennifer Lawrence join the cast
Directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Red Sparrow), the film told a love story between Coriolanus and Lucy. It stars Hunter Schafer, Rachel Zegler (West Side Story), the brilliant Viola Davis, and Tom Blyth (The Gilded Age).
Following the film’s theatrical success, the saga is set to return to the big screen. A feature-length installment titled Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is scheduled for release on November 25th, 2026. The film boasts an exceptional cast with Ralph Fiennes, Jesse Plemons, Elle Fanning, Maya Hawke, and Glenn Close. As for the two protagonists, they will be portrayed by Joseph Zada (We Were Liars) and Whitney Peak (Hocus Pocus 2).
The latest twist? In December 2025, the American media Deadline revealed that Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson would also be making a comeback in this new instalment. One can recall their portrayal of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in the films released between 2012 and 2015. The news was met with great excitement among fans of the franchise…
Whitney Peak and Joseph Zada in the film Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (2026). © Murray Close.
A new opus entitled Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
The story will take place forty years after the events of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and twenty-four years before what happened in the first film. It will explore the backstory of Haymitch Abernathy (played by Woody Harrelson in the original saga), Katniss’s future mentor. The premise? “As dawn breaks on the 50th annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be drawn. In District 12, Haymitch Abernathy tries not to dwell on his odds. All he cares about is being with the girl he loves. But when his name is called, all his dreams shatter.”
He is then “ripped away from his family and his love, sent to the Capitol with three other District 12 tributes… A young friend who’s like a sister to him, a compulsive gambler, and the most conceited girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch realizes he’s been set up to fail. But he’s ready to fight… and to make that fight echo far beyond the arena.”
Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping by Francis Lawrence, coming out in theatres on November 18th, 2026.
