The first Hunger Games movie came out in 2012 and made a major movie star out of Jennifer Lawrence. She played Katniss Everdeen, who had to survive a brutal, post-apocalyptic tournament that pitted her against other “tributes” from across the dystopian nation of Panem.
Lawrence starred in three more Hunger Games movies before Katniss’ story was told in full, but that wasn’t the end of the franchise. In 2023, Lionsgate released The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, a prequel movie set over 50 years before the original Hunger Games. Jennifer Lawrence did not appear in that movie, but things are changing in the upcoming film The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
Sunrise on the Reaping is set a mere 24 years before the original Hunger Games movie, and tells the story of the 50th Hunger Games. To mark this special anniversary, each of the 12 districts in Panem must send double the number of tributes as usual. Among those tributes is a 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy (Joseph Zada), who was played by Woody Harrelson as an older man in the original movies.
Although most of the story is set in the past, Sunrise on the Reaping will include appearances from Harrelson, Lawrence, and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark. Appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Lawrence said that reuniting with her old cast and crewmates was “unbelievable”:
It was so crazy. It was the same crew. It was the same camera guys, the same AD who I’ve worked with a million times, because I love him. And with Josh and Woody. It was so emotional. Josh and I didn’t walk to the bathroom without our arms around each other. It was so beautiful.
Sunrise on the Reaping is based on the book of the same name by Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins. The book ends with an epilogue set after the events of the original story, where Haymitch, Katniss, and Peeta reunite. That’s likely how Harrelson, Lawrence, and Hutcherson will be brought into the movie. They probably won’t be onscreen for long, but it sounds like they’ll make the reunion count.
During her interview, Lawrence dropped a few other tidbits about her time on the Hunger Games franchise, including:
- She revealed that she was “Team Gale,” meaning that she supported Katniss’ romantic involvement with Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) over her relationship with Peeta.
- She denied rumors that she would eat tuna and garlic on purpose before kissing scenes with Liam Hemsworth.
- She revealed that Woody Harrelson apparently has boundary issues. “And Woody obviously came through the window of my hotel room uninvited, because it wouldn’t be the same if he listened to boundaries and used a door,” she joked about her time working on Sunrise on the Reaping.
Lawrence is known to joke around a lot, so some of this may be said in jest.
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The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens in theaters on November 20, 2026. Soon enough, we’ll see where it ranks among the other movies in the franchise.
