Sunrise on the Reaping is officially adding two familiar names to the Capitol chatter: Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson will appear as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in the new Hunger Games prequel feature. The Lionsgate film adapts Suzanne Collins’ 2025 novel and is set around the 50th Hunger Games, 24 years before Katniss and Peeta first step into the arena. A theatrical release is slated for November 20, 2026.
The project tracks a teenage Haymitch Abernathy through the Second Quarter Quell; the story framework strongly suggests Katniss and Peeta surface in a coda moment, mirroring their presence in the book’s epilogue. Variety notes the nature of the cameo is “being kept under wraps,” but book readers will recognize the flash-forward setup.
E! adds explicit epilogue context — including Haymitch’s reluctance to revisit the past and a small but striking gesture from District 12’s most famous victors — quoting, “I didn’t want to have anything to do with their memorial book after the war,” and later, “Like the geese, we really did mate for life.”
Release date, timeline, and creatives
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens on November 20, 2026. The prequel is set 24 years before Katniss and Peeta’s original Games and centers on the 50th Hunger Games, with Haymitch as the 16-year-old tribute from District 12. Francis Lawrence returns to direct; Billy Ray writes the screenplay; the producing team of Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson is back. Cumulatively, the five prior films have surpassed $3.3 billion worldwide.
Cast: every confirmed name so far
- Jennifer Lawrence — Katniss Everdeen (appearance expected)
- Josh Hutcherson — Peeta Mellark (appearance expected)
- Joseph Zada — Haymitch Abernathy (young)
- Elle Fanning — Effie Trinket (younger version; originated by Elizabeth Banks)
- Ralph Fiennes — President Coriolanus Snow (preceded by Donald Sutherland and, in the previous prequel, Tom Blyth)
- Kieran Culkin — Caesar Flickerman (role previously played by Stanley Tucci)
- Jesse Plemons — Plutarch Heavensbee (previously portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman)
- Kelvin Harrison Jr. — Beetee
- Maya Hawke — Wiress
- Mckenna Grace — Maysilee Donner
- Whitney Peak — Lenore Dove Baird
- Ben Wang — Wyatt Callow
- Molly McCann — Louella
- Iona Bell — Lou Lou
- Glenn Close — Drusilla Sickle
- Billy Porter — Magno Stift
- Percy Daggs IV — cast, role listed among ensemble
- Liam Hemsworth — referenced as an original-series lead alongside Lawrence and Hutcherson
- Woody Harrelson — originated the older Haymitch Abernathy in the original films
Variety’s rundown confirms the core ensemble and franchise lineage (Effie, Snow, Caesar, Plutarch), while E! provides additional role callouts across District 12 and the mentorship bench.
How Katniss and Peeta fit into Sunrise on the Reaping
Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Credit: Lionsgate/Kobal
Lawrence and Hutcherson’s involvement is described as a cameo, tied to the novel’s epilogue. E!’s synopsis spells out the book beat where Katniss and Peeta reconnect with Haymitch after the Capitol revolution, which dovetails with the film’s Haymitch-centric arc.
The franchise’s returning architect, Francis Lawrence, keeps continuity behind the camera. With Billy Ray scripting and Color Force’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson producing again, the prequel maintains the creative DNA that shaped Catching Fire and both parts of Mockingjay.
What the principals are saying
In a recent on-the-record exchange, Josh Hutcherson teased reunion hopes with signature candor: “I would love to be back on set with Francis, with Jen, with Liam, with Woody [Harrelson],” he said. “It would not take any convincing at all. I’d be there in a heartbeat.” Pressed about the coda, he added, “That would be a dream come true… Do dreams come true? Sometimes. Sometimes not. Sometimes, yeah.”
E!’s round-up also spotlights a voice line from a recent teaser — “I think these games are gonna be different” — and two concise epilogue quotes attributed to Haymitch. Producer Nina Jacobs praised a key supporting addition, calling Glenn Close “a dream Drusilla,” and added of Billy Porter, “one of those rare performers who can dazzle and devastate in equal measure.”
Where the franchise stands now
The announcement lands amid busy cycles for the leads. Variety notes Jennifer Lawrence just earned a seventh Golden Globe nomination for Die My Love, while Josh Hutcherson has momentum from Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and HBO’s I Love L.A. The franchise itself continues as a box-office juggernaut with more than $3.3 billion amassed across five films.
What to expect from Sunrise on the Reaping
File this as a Haymitch character study that still nods to the District 12 legacy. With Lawrence and Hutcherson back — even briefly — the prequel connects three eras of Panem, while a stacked ensemble deepens the world-building. The date to circle is November 20, 2026 — and yes, fans can fairly ask whether that epilogue scene lands exactly as the book does. For now, the studio is keeping that answer sealed.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping poster.
Credit: Lionsgate
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