Lionsgate has just shared footage of its upcoming feature, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, at CinemaCon 2026. The film will come out in theaters on November 20, 2026.
Directed by Francis Lawrence, Sunrise on the Reaping reconsiders the world of Panem and follows young Haymitch Abernathy, 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. Since the Games are a Quarter Quell, which takes place every 25 years, each district must send twice as many tributes to the Capitol, meaning 48 children will fight to the death.
Sunrise on the Reaping
The trailer opens with a young Haymitch Abernathy, played by Joseph Zada, sitting across from President Snow, played by Ralph Fiennes. The tension is immediate. Haymitch declares at one point, “I’m sick of living in fear. Just surviving. We’re not animals to be killed for their entertainment.” Snow, unsurprisingly, has a sharp response. He warns in a voiceover, “If you disobey me, we shall open the bloodbath with the longest, most drawn out death your people have ever seen.”
The cast is stacked. Elle Fanning plays a young Effie Trinket, Kieran Culkin steps in as Caesar Flickerman, Jesse Plemons takes on Plutarch Heavensbee. The ensemble also includes Glenn Close as Drusilla Sickle, Billy Porter as Magno Stift, and Maya Hawke as Wiress.
Fiennes addressed taking over the role of President Snow previously held by the late Donald Sutherland, saying in a recent interview with Jodie Comer, “Obviously big shoes to sort of stand alongside of, but he brought wonderful complexity to that part and I’m playing a slightly younger version of him.”
The biggest fan-driven news? Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are reprising their roles, marking the first time they’ve appeared in a Hunger Games film in over a decade, their last being 2015’s Mockingjay – Part 2. Whitney Peak, who stars in the film alongside Zada, told Brit + Co that “It’s absolutely devastating. Joseph Zada gives a performance of a lifetime.”
The film serves as both a sequel to The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) and a prequel to The Hunger Games (2012), making it the sixth installment in the franchise. It is based on the novel written by Suzanne Collins, first published in 2025.
