Fans of The Hunger Games franchise have reason to celebrate. A teaser for the next prequel film, Sunrise on the Reaping, just dropped on social media, giving the world a teaser and building hype for the character Haymitch Abernathy’s origin story. Check out the official teaser that was posted on IGN's Youtube channel down below:
Based on the novel by Suzanne Collins set to release on March 18, the film adaptation will hit theaters on November 20, 2026. This marks the second cinematic prequel in the Hunger Games saga, following 2023’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which explored the early years of Coriolanus Snow.
Sunrise on the Reaping shifts the spotlight to Haymitch Abernathy, the sarcastic and deeply scarred mentor from District 12 played by Woody Harrelson in the original films. The story revisits the brutal 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell, in which a young Haymitch emerged as the sole survivor from 48 tributes. The events unfold 24 years before the original trilogy, offering a deeper understanding of the trauma that shaped him into the cynical advisor for Katniss and Peeta.
The official teaser posted to various The Hunger Games social accounts features a volcano erupting and transforming into a new emblem: a snake coiled around a mockingjay. The post’s caption reads: “Forty-eight tributes. One victor. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping – in theaters November 20, 2026.”
While production begins this July, the cast remains unannounced. Director Francis Lawrence, who previously helmed every Hunger Games movie except the first, confirmed at CinemaCon that casting has just begun. “We’re very excited,” Lawrence said. “We’ve been working on this draft for a year. We start shooting in July.”
Fans are already speculating about the cast, with some eyeing Cooper Hoffman and Kiefer Sutherland—sons of late Hunger Games stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland—as potential additions to the prequel. Given the story’s setting decades before the main events, the idea of the sons honoring their fathers’ iconic roles has stirred strong emotions among longtime fans.
With the franchise’s enduring popularity and a fresh tale from the early days of the Games, Sunrise on the Reaping is already shaping up to be a major cinematic event that you will not want to miss in 2026.
Have you read the new book yet? Are you going to be watching this film when it hits theaters in 2026? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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