Lionsgate has ignited excitement across the fandom with the release of the first teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, arriving exactly one year before the film hits theaters on November 20, 2026. The new installment returns audiences to Panem—this time decades before Katniss Everdeen’s story—spotlighting a young Haymitch Abernathy, played by Joseph Zada, on the fateful morning of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, the infamous Second Quarter Quell.
Directed by franchise veteran Francis Lawrence and adapted by Billy Ray, the film reunites the creative team behind some of the series’ biggest successes. Producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force return as well, with Cameron MacConomy serving as executive producer. With the first five films earning over $3.3 billion worldwide, expectations for this prequel are already sky-high.
The enthusiasm began long before today’s trailer drop: the novel Sunrise on the Reaping made waves upon release, selling 1.5 million copies in its first week across multiple countries. In the U.S. alone, it moved 1.2 million copies, doubling the debut numbers of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and tripling those of Mockingjay.
If the teaser is any indication, Sunrise on the Reaping promises a darker, deeper look into Panem’s history—and the trauma that shaped the mentor fans thought they knew. The countdown to the next Quarter Quell has officially begun.
