The Hunger Games is one of those series that, at first glance, didn't necessarily need any sequels or prequels after the original book trilogy, but author Suzanne Collins has proven twice over that she still has more to say in her dystopian sci-fi world. The latest book, Sunrise on the Reaping, came out on March 18, 2025, and just over a year and a half later we're getting the movie treatment courtesy of Lionsgate. And this one looks pretty spectacular.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping tells the story of young Haymitch Abernathy, played by Woody Harrelson in the original set of movies and Joseph Zada in this new film. Long before Haymitch was Katniss Everdeen's mentor, he had to fight for his live in his own trial-by-fire Hunger Games experience. And Haymitch did not have it easy: his Games were the Second Quarter Quell, reminiscent of the sort of extra mayhem the Capital pulled out for its arena in the second movie, Catching Fire, which depicted the Third Quarter Quell.
Lionsgate has just dropped a new trailer for the movie, which hits theaters on November 20. Check it out:
Can The Hunger Games still deliver a fresh experience in 2026?
There are plenty of notable details for diehard fans of Collins' book to pick out of this trailer, but for me one of the most interesting is seeing a whole new group of actors take on characters from the original series at younger ages. Ralph Fiennes plays President Snow, which makes him the third actor to tackle the role. His version is right in the middle of his life, between the young man we saw in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes played by Tom Blyth, and the elderly tyrant portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the first four movies. He's fully in his villain era here, but he has a bit more liveliness to the performance, which should make for an interesting time.
We also get younger versions of Caesar Flickerman and Effie Trinket, played by Succession's Kieran Culkin and Predator: Badland's Elle Fanning, respectively. And of course, the star of the piece is Haymitch Abernathy himself. Joseph Zada has extremely large shoes to fill, given Harrelson's flawless performance as the older version of the character. I'm not entirely convinced from this trailer alone — if I'm being honest, the moments where Haymitch is talking are some of the least gripping for me for some reason — but getting more time with the new actor will no doubt make his spin on the character land more fully.
There are new faces as well, such as Glenn Close's Drusilla Sickle, who is the escort for the Hunger Games contestants from District 12, where Haymitch hails from. She's a much more severe presence than Effie Trinket was for Katniss and Peeta, and Close looks to be playing the part for all it's worth. The costuming for her is pretty fantastic.
Quarter Quells take place every 25th anniversary of the founding of the Hunger Games, and as part of the "celebration," they have extra rules that throw even more uncertainty into the life-or-death competition. In Catching Fire, for example, the Third Quarter Quell brought back contestants who won previous Hunger Games, partially as a way to entrap Katniss after she managed to buck the rules of the games and get both herself and Peeta out in the first movie.
The Second Quarter Quell will feature twice as many contestans as usual, so instead of two from each district, we'll presumably get four. It's going to be a bloodbath, which transforms Haymitch into the person we see in the original films.
The first Hunger Games series was both an action-packed thriller as well as a searing commentary about how abuses of a corrupt societal system and its propagandized media can be used to inflict horrors on the people crushed beneath it. From where I'm sitting, that original series told that story extremely well. Both The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping explore different parts of the mythos of Panem, but ultimately, the status quo won't shift by the end of either of those prequels, because we know it stays in place until Katniss' time decades later.
For The Hunger Games itself to become the exact sort of never-ending media spectacle it was warning against is an interesting thing, and I'm very curious to see how this new movie is received, and whether a sixth installment in the film series can still be fresh and relevant all these years later.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping premieres in theaters and IMAX on November 20, 2026.