If you’re looking for something that puts young adults through the worst traumatic meat grinder you can possibly think of, then there’s a big possibility that you’re going to want to pay special attention to The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
Author Suzanne Collins kicked off the YA dystopian trend with her bestselling original trilogy back in the 2010s, but has always said that she never plans to write a sequel. And why would she, when, for a book series that is so incredibly bleak at times, the story ends fairly happily? That doesn’t mean, however, Collins wasn’t interested in a prequel exploring Panem, the imaginary nation where her saga takes place, which is where her new book-turned-film, Sunrise on the Reaping, comes in.
A brand-new trailer for the 2026 movie was just released, teasing what we can expect from a film set only a few years before the main trilogy. Despite the bleak subject matter of trusting children from each of Panem’s 12 impoverished Districts into a death game, this film looks plenty colorful. We see a lush green field where a younger Haymitch and the other tributes are in a circle, while at the flowery center, weapons hang from a weird structure. It wouldn’t look out of place in a shot from Ari Aster’s 2019 horror sensation, Midsommar.
Image: Lionsgate
While most know Haymitch Abernathy as Katniss and Peeta’s mentor in the original trilogy, it was Haymitch who was conscripted for the 50th Hunger Games during the second “Quarter Quell,” a special edition of the Hunger Games with changes to the traditional rules of the macabre spectacle.
The Sunrise on the Reaping book expanded on Haymitch’s backstory, giving him a particularly heartbreaking past and showing why Katniss’ eventual fight against the Capitol was so meaningful in the first place. It also touched on other legacy characters, such as Beetee, who allied with Katniss in Mockingjay.
Image: Lionsgate
The Hunger Games remains one of the most beloved book series of all time, and Sunrise on the Reaping was well-beloved by critics and fans alike. We can’t wait to see how the film will live up when it hits theaters on Nov. 20, 2026.
