Are you ready to head back to Panem? Well, “Hunger Games” franchise director Francis Lawrence certainly is! The filmmaker recently gave an update on pre-production for the series’ upcoming entry “Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.”
“Sunrise on the Reaping” will be based on Suzanne Collins’ soon-to-be-released prequel novel of the same name. It tells the story of franchise mainstay Haymitch Abernathy, played in the movies by Woody Harrelson (“True Detective”).
“Yeah, I’m shooting that this year,” Lawrence told Collider. “So we’ve actually just sort of started prep. The book comes out mid-March. We’ve sort of got a research phase of prep. After London, I’m going to go on a scout, and then we start prepping in April, and we shoot this year.”
While this will be a prequel story, it won’t be devoid of franchise veterans. Lawrence will once again be working with Collins and producer Nina Jacobson. “I’m really, really excited for it. It’s always great to go back and to work with Nina [Jacobson] and Suzanne Collins,” he said. “It’s such a great world and great stories and great, always super relevant thematics, which always ground it. But, yeah, very, very excited.”
Who is Playing Haymitch?
As you can imagine, casting for a film adaptation of a book that hasn’t been released presents some unique challenges. Namely, who will play a young Haymitch in “Sunrise on the Reaping?” Since we are fairly certain they don’t plan to de-age Harrelson.
“I will say it’s, like, it’s tricky because, you know, the book’s not out, so only people know generally what it’s about,” Lawrence explained. “I think there was an excerpt that was put out, and Suzanne maybe has a quote out there about what the thematics are. So we’re, like, we’re researching a little, but yeah, like, we can’t put, you know, scenes out or anything like that, yet.”
Colins’ “Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” hits bookstores March 18th. Lawrence’s adaptation is slated to open in theaters on November 20th, 2026. We’ll keep you posted on updates about the projects as they become available.
