The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping trailer teases a young Haymitch in franchise prequel

Ever since we first learned that Suzanne Collins’ second The Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise On The Reaping, would be getting the big screen treatment from franchise veteran — and The Long Walk helmsman — Francis Lawrence, anticipation to see the story of a young Haymitch Abernathy’s infamously brutal time in the arena has been building. And now, after a deluge of wild casting announcements in recent months — from newcomer Joseph Zada’s Haymitch, to Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus Snow, to Elle Fanning’s Effie Trinket and Jesse Plemons’ Plutarch Heavensbee — and teases from the set of the dystopian murder-fest’s latest chapter, the first trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping has just been released. Check it out below;

Hoo boy — let the Games begin! Set 24 years before Katniss Everdeen defied the Capitol as District 12’s rebellious tribute, and 40 years after Lucy Gray competed in the 10th Games in The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, Sunrise On The Reaping is set to follow a young Haymitch (Zada, played elsewhere before by Woody Harrelson) as he partakes in the 50th edition of the televised kid-on-kid deathmatch. As fans of the books will know, the 50th Games also happen to be the Second Quarter Quell, meaning double the tributes and double the brutality — and as we see in this teaser, Sunrise On The Reaping doesn’t look like it’s going to hold back as it shows us how Haymitch became the grizzled Games vet we meet in Katniss’ time, seeding the origins of some of the franchise’s best-loved characters, new and old, along the way.

Alongside the starry names we’ve already mentioned who’ll be helping bring the brutality of The Hunger Games’ latest chapter to life is a veritable who’s who of major names and rising stars, including Kieran Culkin (as the Games’ TV host Caesar Flickerman), Kelvin Harrison Jr., Glenn Close, Maya Hawke, Mckenna Grace, Billy Porter, Whitney Peak, Ben Wang, Molly McCann, Iona Bell and Percy Daggs IV. And what’s more, if you listen closely during the fiery closing shots of the teaser, we also hear Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch himself — though whether that’s purely an echo of the original movies or there’ll be some way in which he plays a role here very much remains to be seen.

With The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping not set to hit our screens until 20 November, 2026, there’s quite a wait still ahead before our return to Panem and the theatre of combat that is the Arena. Still, what we’ve seen here is enough to have us ready, seated, and waiting for tickets to go on sale. May the odds be ever in your favour to have the patience to stick it out for another 12 months. We can do it, folks!