The enormously popular Lionsgate franchise is back. The Hunger Games is getting another film release next year, and fans couldn’t contain their excitement, filling the YouTube comments section with their love after its teaser release.
The Hunger Games Sunrise on the Reaping teaser is out, and the timeline lineup seems more interesting than ever. It is worth knowing who plays who in the upcoming prequel in the series and how the timeline works.
Plot details of Sunrise on the Reaping (2026)
Based on Suzanne Collins’s novel of the same name, Sunrise on the Reaping is the sixth film of the franchise. The story is set 40 years after the events of the 2023 prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
The film will take us to the backstory of Haymitch Abernathy (played by Joseph Zada), who will be the eventual mentor to Katniss Everdeen (a character played by Jennifer Lawrence in the previous Hunger Games films).
The trailer shows 16-year-old Haymitch participating in the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the second Quarter Quell.
Have a look at the teaser:
Director’s vision for the film
Francis Lawrence loves Suzanne’s style of writing and knows that she takes cues from the events happening in the present. People have to subjugate to their leader, and even the rich.
As per Den of Geek, Lawrence explained the idea of this book’s story,
“It is about implicit submission and this idea that no matter what kind of regime we live under, why is it that we’re always sort of willing to be ruled by the few?” [Source]
He is of the view that it doesn’t necessarily mean that a thing that has happened recurrently in the past will happen again. The logic could be tied to the political landscape, where people in power like to take advantage and then tie it up with an emotional story.
How does the Hunger Games Sunrise on the Reaping teaser set up the story?
Sunrise on the Reaping is the second prequel in the franchise, where the events will take place 24 years before the first Hunger Games film (2012). Have a look at the release order of the film franchise:
- The Hunger Games (2012)
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- part 1 (2014)
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- part 2 (2015)
- The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)
- The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (2026)
Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss wasn’t born yet, and of course, the casting of the film is kept young to play the younger versions of returning characters Haymitch, Effie (played by Elle Fanning), Snow, Plutarch (Jesse Plemons), Wiress (Maya Hawke), Beetee (Kelvin Harrison Jr), Mags (Lili Taylor), and Caesar Flickerman (Kieran Culkin).
This film comes decades after the last film, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, making its placement 40 years after Songbirds and Snakes, where District 12 had its first true victor.
It implies that the film will bridge the era between the two films. It will be more of a standard prequel highlighting a Katniss-centric story. The multiple characters and settings from the past, even before she was born, are important to understand, which will give a massive reasoning for the franchise’s events.
Fans sense trouble after seeing Midsommar vibes in the “Sunrise on the Reaping” teaser
What is more intriguing is one glimpse from the teaser trailer where the game’s setting looks like one of the Midsommar’s (2019) rituals. The white setting in the open, wide, lush green fields of the second Quarter Quell is the visual style resembling that of Midsommar.
It’s a folkloric aesthetic—sun-drenched, floral, almost idyllic—that becomes disturbing precisely because it contrasts so sharply with the brutality beneath it. This bright pastoral serenity seems unsettling for a deadly competition, which had led the internet to make comparison to the flower-filled set of Midsommar.
The visual language strongly suggests that the 50th Hunger Games are going to be deadly and the Capitol could be deliberately crafting an arena that weaponizes serenity, using nature and ritualistic symbolism to unsettle both the tributes and viewers.
By framing the games as almost ceremonial—clean, bright, ritualistic—it strips away any illusion of humanity and instead highlights how the Capitol aestheticizes death for entertainment.
If the trailer is already leaning into this Midsommar-like atmosphere, fans can expect the 50th Hunger Games to push the franchise into a more psychological, haunting visual territory than ever before.
When is Sunrise on the Reaping (2026) releasing?
Lionsgate has slated Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (2026) for a theatrical release on November 20, 2026.
Genre: Dystopian sci-fi, teen adventure, action, fantasy, thriller
Cast: Joseph Zada, Elle Fanning, Jesse Plemons, Ralph Fiennes, Kieran Culkin, Whitney Peak
Director: Francis Lawrence
Writers: Billy Ray, Suzanne Collins
Producers: Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson
Release date: November 20, 2026
Movie runtime: – –
Do you believe the 50th Hunger Games will be the darkest yet? Share your predictions below!
Passionate Entertainment Writer | Trusted Pop Culture Voice
Madiha Ali is an experienced entertainment writer with over five years of expertise in covering movies, TV shows, celebrity news, and pop culture. Her bylines appear on trusted platforms like High on Films, Ary News, The Express Tribune, Tea and Banter, Show Snob, CelebFeedz, Snapfeedz, Daily Planet Media, The Irish Insider, and Movie Insiderz.
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