• Suzanne Collins' "Sunrise on the Reaping" is a prequel to "The Hunger Games" about a young Haymitch.
• Lionsgate greenlit a movie adaptation in 2024, almost a year before the book hit shelves.
• The studio released the film's first full-length trailer on April 13.

The release of Suzanne Collins' "Sunrise on the Reaping" marked a new dawn in the "Hunger Games" franchise.

The book, published in March 2025, is the second prequel to Collins' immensely popular dystopian series, following the 2020 release of "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes."

"Sunrise on the Reaping" takes place several decades before the events of "The Hunger Games" trilogy and centers on a younger Haymitch Abernathy as he fights for survival as a District 12 tribute in the Capitol arena.

Like "Ballad," the latest installment reveals key lore about the world of Panem, and fortunately for fans, it's also getting adapted into a film.

Here's everything we know about the movie so far.

Some spoilers ahead for "Sunrise on the Reaping."

'Sunrise on the Reaping,' the 6th 'Hunger Games' movie, will hit theaters in November 2026

Prior to the book's release, Lionsgate announced it would turn the story into a feature film.

The news of the forthcoming movie was shared just hours after Collins announced in June 2024 that she was publishing another "Hunger Games" story.

At the time, Deadline reported that the film, "The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping," would be released on November 20, 2026.

Francis Lawrence, the filmmaker who helmed every movie in the series except the 2012 original, is directing the movie from a script adapted by Billy Ray.

Nina Jacobson and her producing partner, Brad Simpson, are returning to produce the prequel under their Color Force banner. Jacobson told Variety in March 2025 that her team already had "a great draft" of the script and set filming locations before the book was even released.

Filming started in the summer of 2025

"Sunrise on the Reaping" has a massive cast, largely because Haymitch is reaped into the second Quarter Quell. The 50th Hunger Games has twice as many tributes competing, meaning 48 children from the districts are sent to the arena instead of 24.

In addition, the novel introduces readers to characters in District 12 with connections to the other books in the series and features appearances by "Hunger Games" favorites such as Effie Trinket and Plutarch Heavensbee.

Lionsgate revealed the film's cast on social media, showing snippets of the characters' introduction in the novel bursting into flame to reveal the actor portraying them.

The 'Sunrise on the Reaping' cast includes:

• Haymitch Abernathy: Joseph Zada
• Lenore Dove Baird: Whitney Peak
• President Snow: Ralph Fiennes
• Effie Trinket: Elle Fanning
• Caesar Flickerman: Kieran Culkin
• Plutarch Heavensbee: Jesse Plemons
• Beetee Latier: Kelvin Harrison Jr.
• Wiress: Maya Hawke
• Mags Flanagan: Lili Taylor
• Maysilee Donner: Mckenna Grace
• Wyatt Callow: Ben Wang
• Louella McCoy: Molly McCann
• Lou Lou: Iona Bell
• Magno Stift: Billy Porter
• Drusilla Sickle: Glenn Close
• Panache: Jhaleil Swaby
• Ampert: Percy Daggs IV
• Silka: Laura Marcus
• Wellie: Rada Rae
• Maritte: Sky Frances
• Clayton: Salimou Thiam
• Ringina: Tatyana Muzondo
• Buck: John Doeble
• Kerna: Alina Reid
• Hull: Kaine Buffonge
• Willamae: Kara Tointon
• Sid: Smylie Bradwell
• Clerk Carmine: Jeffrey Hallman
• Woodbine: Serafin Mishiev

The film's star, Zada, is a relative newcomer with a handful of roles to his name. In March 2025, Jacobson told Variety her team was looking to Woody Harrelson, who played Haymitch in the original "Hunger Games" trilogy, for inspiration when casting their next star.

She said she hoped the actor who landed the role could capture the "mischief" Harrelson brought to the role without "impersonating" him.

"You want somebody who very credibly feels like they could be a young version of this character, before the trauma and grief and rage that the fallout of the Games create," Jacobson said. "Nobody can be Woody Harrelson, but Woody Harrelson."

Of the roles announced, Fiennes and Fanning's castings arguably generated the most buzz.

Fiennes, who is no stranger to film franchises after playing Voldemort in the "Harry Potter" films, will be offering the third cinematic iteration of President Coriolanus Snow.

Donald Sutherland originated the role of the aging villain in the three original "Hunger Games" films, and fans saw Tom Blyth's portrayal of Snow as a young man in the first prequel. Snow is the primary antagonist in "Sunrise on the Reaping," as he is in the original trilogy, and he makes some chilling appearances in the novel.

Elizabeth Banks played Effie Trinket, Katniss and Peeta's handler from the Capitol, in the original "Hunger Games" trilogy, and the character appears as a young stylist in "Sunrise on the Reaping." Fans were eager to see who would step into Banks' shoes because her performance was so beloved in the films, and Fanning's casting was met with overwhelming excitement.

Plemons will take over the role of Plutarch for Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Jeffrey Wright played Beetee Latier before Kelvin Harrison Jr. Interestingly, both Plemons and Harrison previously played Hoffman and Wright's children in other projects. Plemons was Hoffman's son in the 2012 film "The Master," and Harrison was Wright's son in "Monster," released in 2018.

Lawrence announced that filming for the project was set to begin in July 2025 at CinemaCon in April 2025, and Zada and Grace were spotted together in Spain that month.

Lionsgate has released two trailers for the movie as of April 2026

On November 20, 2025, Lionsgate shared an official teaser trailer for the film to celebrate one year until its release.

The trailer gives viewers a glimpse of the arena for the 50th Hunger Games, showing Zada as Haymitch standing on a podium alongside his fellow tributes in a picturesque, hilly countryside.

It then rolls a 10-second countdown, the timeframe Hunger Games contestants must wait on their podiums before the games begin, and splices together clips of the tributes with other scenes from the film.

The trailer also features clips of some of the most highly anticipated on-screen appearances, such as Fanning as Effie and Fiennes as Snow.

Plus, there's a shot of Lenore Dove giving Haymitch a striker that has a bird on one end and a snake on the other. The striker plays an important role in the book, was illustrated on the book's cover, and was unveiled as the official logo for the film in a teaser clip released in April 2025, making its appearance exciting for fans of the text.

Both the teaser trailer and teaser clip end with Harrelson's voice saying, "I think these games are gonna be different."

In December 2025, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson would be reprising their roles as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in "Sunrise on the Reaping," though the outlet didn't say whether Harrelson would return alongside them or how they would appear in the film. In the "Sunrise on the Reaping" book, Katniss and Peeta appear in the epilogue, which flashes forward to Haymitch's life after the events of "Mockingjay."

On April 13, 2026, Lionsgate released the first full-length trailer for the film. It offered a more comprehensive look at the film's plot, focusing on Haymitch's reaping and his time at the Capitol before the Hunger Games actually begin.

Clips of some of the book's biggest moments appeared in the trailer, including a chariot crash during the parade of tributes, Haymitch's live TV interview before he enters the arena, and a private conversation between Haymitch and President Snow.

The trailer is also stacked with appearances from the star-studded cast. It features Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, the role Stanley Tucci played in the original trilogy, and Maya Hawke as a younger, less traumatized version of Wiress, an ally to Katniss in the 75th Quarter Quell and a mentor to Haymitch in the 50th.

Hawke as Wiress offers one of the most chilling lines in the trailer: "The arena, it's a killing machine. But all machines can be broken."