The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (2026)
About
Francis Lawrence's adaptation of Suzanne Collins's 2025 novel goes back 24 years before The Hunger Games to tell how Haymitch Abernathy, the drunken mentor of the original films, won the 50th Hunger Games.
Plot
It is the year of the second Quarter Quell, and to mark the 50th Games the Capitol doubles the number of tributes: four children from each of the twelve districts, 48 in all. In District 12, sixteen-year-old Haymitch Abernathy (Joseph Zada) hopes only to get through reaping day and spend it with his girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird (Whitney Peak). Instead he is sent to the Capitol alongside three other District 12 tributes, Maysilee Donner (Mckenna Grace), Louella McCoy and Wyatt Callow (Ben Wang).
In the Capitol the tributes are paraded and trained under the eye of President Coriolanus Snow (Ralph Fiennes), with Drusilla Sickle (Glenn Close) as District 12's escort and a young Effie Trinket (Elle Fanning) among the stylists. Haymitch falls in with tributes from other districts, including Wiress (Maya Hawke) and Ampert Latier, and comes to believe the arena itself can be turned against the Gamemakers. A young Plutarch Heavensbee (Jesse Plemons), later the head Gamemaker of Catching Fire, is filming the Games for the Capitol.
Where it fits in the series
Sunrise on the Reaping is the second prequel, after The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), which was set at the 10th Games. It sits between that film and The Hunger Games (2012), and explains why Haymitch is the bitter, hard-drinking victor Katniss meets in the first film, where he was played by Woody Harrelson. Wiress, Beetee, Mags and Plutarch, all from Catching Fire and the Mockingjay films, appear here as younger versions.
Production
Lionsgate announced the film on June 6, 2024, the same day Collins revealed the novel, and set the November 20, 2026 release date at the same time; the book followed on March 18, 2025. It is Francis Lawrence's fifth Hunger Games film after Catching Fire, both parts of Mockingjay and The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. The screenplay is by Billy Ray, who co-wrote the 2012 original, and Michael Lesslie, who co-wrote Songbirds & Snakes. Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force produce, and James Newton Howard returns as composer.
Details
Director: Francis Lawrence
Writer/Screenplay: Billy Ray, Michael Lesslie (screenplay); Suzanne Collins (novel)
Producer: Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Francis Lawrence
Running time: 158 minutes
Certificate: 12A (UK), PG-13 (US)
Genre: Science fiction, Action, Drama
Released: November 20, 2026 (US)
Music Composer: James Newton Howard
Cast
- Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy
- Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner
- Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird
- Ralph Fiennes as President Coriolanus Snow
- Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee
- Glenn Close as Drusilla Sickle
- Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket
- Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman
- Maya Hawke as Wiress
- Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee Latier
- Lili Taylor as Mags Flanagan
- Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow
- Molly McCann as Louella McCoy
- Billy Porter as Magno Stift
- Percy Daggs IV as Ampert Latier
- Kara Tointon as Willamae Abernathy
- Iris Apatow as Proserpina Trinket
- Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen
- Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark
Franchise
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Related
Trivia
- Ralph Fiennes is the third actor to play Snow, after Donald Sutherland in the original four films and Tom Blyth as the young Snow in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
- The BBFC passed it 12A for moderate violence, injury detail, threat and upsetting scenes, with a running time of about 158 minutes.
- Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are both listed in the cast as Katniss and Peeta, their first appearance in the series since Mockingjay - Part 2 in 2015.
Critical Reception
Critics' reviews had not been published as of November 12, 2026, ahead of the November 20 release. Lionsgate let audiences at preview screenings on October 28 share short first reactions, which were largely positive, but there is no Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic score yet.
