Lionsgate has released a 30-second teaser from the set of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, a prequel to Francis Lawrence’s film trilogy about the early years of Katniss and Peeta’s mentor Haymitch Abernathy and his participation in the survival competition for District 12.
The prequel takes place 24 years before the events of the original Hunger Games and present the 50th anniversary competition to the audience — is the most brutal in the series, as this time the Districts will be charged a double tribute and 48 young boys and girls will fight for their lives.
“When Haymitch’s name is called, all his dreams are shattered. He is torn from his family and love, and sent to the Capitol with three other members of District 12: a friend who is almost like a sister, an obsessive eccentric, and the bravest girl in the district. As the Games begin, Gaimitch realizes he is set up for defeat, but something inside him compels him to fight… and to make his fight known far beyond the deadly arena.”— from the description of the original book by Suzanne Collins.
The role of young Haymitch (Woody Harrelson in The Hunger Games) Joseph Zada took overHis girlfriend Lenore Dove will be played by Whitney Peake. The rest of the cast includes “Stranger Things” star Maya Hawke (Viress), Ref Fines (President of Panem Coriolanus Snow), Elle Fanning (Effie), McCann Grace, Jesse Plemons, as well as Molly McCann and Jonah Bell, who will portray the new tragic duo from Collins’ book — Girls Louella and Lou, where the latter will become a double for the former after her death, which the Capitol will nominate to avoid a scandal.
The teaser with behind-the-scenes footage offers us a landscape where one of the stages of filming is likely to take place, a brief glimpse of Gaimitch, and the message that the movie is “currently in production.”
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping – now in production. pic.twitter.com/znYYiwQek2
— The Hunger Games (@TheHungerGames) August 6, 2025
Francis Lawrence returned to directing, and the script was written by Billy Ray. The premiere of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is scheduled to open in theaters on November 20, 2026.
The Hunger Games movie franchise has grossed over $3.3 billion at the global box office, with the highest-grossing installment in the series being Catching Fire in 2013 with $865 million. The first prequel, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, released in 2023, showed more modest results, but still made a profit for Lionsgate given its $100 million budget.
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