‘Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’ Reveals First Footage

The Hunger Games prequel movie is gearing up for its big fight.

Lionsgate revealed the first footage Friday from its upcoming feature The Hunger Games: The Sunrise on the Reaping. Among the castmembers included in the video are Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee Latier, Ralph Fiennes as President Coriolanus Snow, Lili Taylor as Mags Flanagan, Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy and Maya Hawke as Wiress.

Francis Lawrence helms the movie from a script by Billy Ray that adapts author Suzanne Collins’ novel. The film hits theaters Nov. 20 as the latest installment in the franchise that launched with the initial Jennifer Lawrence-led The Hunger Games in 2012.

Glenn Close, Mckenna Grace, Billy Porter, Ben Wang, Whitney Peak and Iris Apatow round out the cast.

The book Sunrise on the Reaping takes place in Panem on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, 24 years before the events in The Hunger Games, the first novel that published in 2008. The franchise’s first five movies have surpassed $3.3 billion at the worldwide box office, with the initial four films led by Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta and Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne.

The Hollywood Reporter reported late last year that Lawrence and Hutcherson will reprise their roles in the new movie. Their most recent entry in the franchise was 2015’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2, which ended with the pair married with children. Lawrence earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for her role in Die My Love, while Hutcherson recently starred in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.

Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson produce Sunrise on the Reaping for Color Force, while Cameron MacConomy executive produces. The new feature is a sequel to 2023’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which starred Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth and Hunter Schafer.

Jennifer Lawrence And Josh Hutcherson Are Returning To The Hunger Games Universe

The rumors are true, and months of denials have officially aged like milk. Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are reportedly returning to the world of Panem, reprising their iconic roles as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in Lionsgate’s highly anticipated prequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

At first, the idea seemed impossible. The new film takes place decades before Katniss ever volunteered for the Hunger Games, making the return of Lawrence and Hutcherson appear unlikely. However, the filmmakers have reportedly found a clever way to bring the beloved characters back without disrupting the timeline of the original trilogy.

The key is a framing device reportedly taken from Suzanne Collins’ latest novel. The story is expected to feature an older Katniss and Peeta spending time with Haymitch Abernathy as he tells them about the horrifying experience he endured during his own Hunger Games. This approach gives fans an opportunity to see the original characters again while allowing the prequel to remain focused on Haymitch’s story.

The revelation is especially amusing considering Josh Hutcherson’s recent comments about the project. For months, the actor insisted that he knew nothing about the upcoming film and emphasized how much he still loved the franchise. In Hollywood, however, such denials can often mean that a carefully worded confidentiality agreement is keeping the truth under wraps. Fans now have plenty of reason to laugh at those earlier statements.

Sunrise on the Reaping centers on the 50th Hunger Games, known as the Second Quarter Quell. This particular Games was designed to be especially brutal, with twice the usual number of tributes being sent into the arena. The story follows a young Haymitch as he struggles to survive one of the most devastating and psychologically intense Games in Panem’s history.

Bringing Katniss and Peeta into the story through a framing sequence could create an emotional connection between Haymitch’s past and the characters fans have followed since the beginning of the franchise. It also gives Lawrence and Hutcherson a chance to return without changing the events established in the original films.

Fans have already taken to social media to celebrate the reported reunion, with many joking about how successfully the actors managed to keep the secret. The combination of familiar stars, Suzanne Collins’ source material, and director Francis Lawrence returning has created enormous anticipation.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is scheduled to arrive in theaters on November 20, 2026. Whether Katniss and Peeta appear only briefly or play a more meaningful role remains unclear, but their return could make this new chapter one of the franchise’s biggest cinematic events yet.