What we know so far about ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’— the new Hunger Games prequel movie

IT looks like the odds are in favor of Hunger Games fans, as the first teaser for Sunrise on the Reaping has arrived, sparking more excitement for Suzanne Collins’ new prequel. 

On Tuesday, April 1, at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Lionsgate revealed the first teaser visuals for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. 

Based on Suzanne Collins’ latest bestselling novel, the film continues its exploration of Panem’s history before the era of Katniss Everdeen. It marks the second installment in the franchise, following the 2023 release The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which starred Tom Blyth as a young Coriolanus Snow and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird.

“Forty-eight tributes. One victor,” reads the tagline shared by the studio on their Instagram. 

Sunrise on the Reaping will put the spotlight on Haymitch Abernathy— Katniss Everdeen’s mentor and a key character in the original Hunger Games series. The story will take place 24 years before, when Haymitch was forced to participate in the 50th Hunger Games, from which he emerged as the victor. 

Francis Lawrence, the director behind Catching Fire, Mockingjay, and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is set to direct the prequel. 

Meanwhile, expectation soars as Billy Ray is tapped to write the screenplay. Ray is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and the scriptwriter for the 2012 Hunger Games movie. 

The movie is set to hit the big screen on November 20, 2026. Other details about the film, including casting, who will play the younger Haymitch, and whether Woody Harrelson would be in it, remain under wraps.