After fans revisited the world of Panem in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and its subsequent film adaptation, author Suzanne Collins and Schoalstic Trade have announced a new prequel novel titled Sunrise on the Reaping for a March 18th, 2025 release [UPDATE: Lionsgate has also now announced a film adaptation for 2026, with details added to the original post below].
Sunrise on the Reaping will “revisit the world of Panem twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.” Fans of the series will know this is the Hunger Games where Haymitch Abernathy, played by Woody Harrelson in the films, was chosen as a Tribute and became the victor after the Capitol doubled the number of Tributes for its special anniversary Games.
“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,’” Collins said. “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.”
“Suzanne Collins has done it again, bringing us back to the world of Panem in order to ask us important questions about our own world,” said Ellie Berger, president of Scholastic Trade. “Sunrise on the Reaping is a remarkable book, bringing new complexity, perspective, and revelations to a piece of the Hunger Games story that readers have longed to know more about.”
Details on the Second Quarter Quell games were revealed in the Catching Fire novel, revealing how exactly Haymitch won the Hunger Games and the consequences that followed, altering Haymitch’s life in tragic ways as his win, much like Katniss and Peeta’s in the original Hunger Games, was viewed as a humiliation for the Capitol.
Film rights were not announced with the book, but one could view it as inevitable Sunrise on the Reaping will become the next Hunger Games film given Lionsgate’s dedication to the series after adapting the original trilogy and Songbirds & Snakes. The latter film was released last year and took place over 60 years before The Hunger Games, following a young Coriolanus Snow as he worked his way through the 10th Hunger Games as a mentor to District 12’s female tribute, shaping him into the evil tyrant he would become
Actor Tom Blyth recently spoke about the potential of playing Snow again in another prequel-era story, even if Snow were merely a supporting character instead of the main one. We’ll have to see if Sunrise on the Reaping will be adapted and if Blyth might return to show us the next step in Snow’s villainous journey.
UPDATE: Lionsgate has also announced a film adaptation of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will follow in cinemas on November 20th 2026:
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