11 Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping Plot Predictions, Theories About Haymitch Prequel

Murray Close/©Lionsgate/Courtesy Everett Collection

Last week, Suzanne Collins announced The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, a new book set in her media-savvy dystopian universe of Panem. Hours later a film was announced as well – Lionsgate is nothing if not ready to capitalize on this franchise, and I’m not complaining. The implications of this book based on what we already know have got theory wheels spinning faster than a train en route to the Capitol.

Related: The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping: Plot, Release Dates & Everything We Know So Far

The book is set “24 years before The Hunger Games.” In order to figure out why that’s significant, do some simple mathematics. Katniss and Peeta were reaped in the 74th Annual Hunger Games. 74 minus 24 is 50. Did everyone else get that? Yes? Good. The 50th Hunger Games, as you may recall from Catching Fire, were the Second Quarter Quell. They are also the games that Haymitch Abernathy won. This means that even if Haymitch isn’t the protagonist of this novel, we will learn more about his story in this book and subsequent film.

Like any self-respecting Hunger Games fan, I would love to see other districts explored in this franchise and deeper dives into characters like Finnick and Annie or one of the career tributes. However, I think this is necessary. The victors from District 12 are few and far between, but significant. Katniss and Peeta are the ones who broke the Games. Lucy Gray is the one the Games don’t want you to know about. So what happened with Haymitch’s games? We already know quite a bit… or so we think.

There will be more tributes.

That’s just the fact of the Second Quarter Quell, whose “gimmick” was to reap twice as many tributes as a reminder that “twice as many rebels died” in the war.

Haymitch is romantically spoken for.

Collins loves love. Whether it’s the complicated but ultimately healthy and sound romance that grows between Peeta and Katniss or the toxic, manipulative yet alluring romance between Lucy Gray and Coriolanus, you can count on the Hunger Games franchise to be some kind of kissing book. Haymitch already had a girlfriend when he was reaped. What’s it like to be separated from your person like that, and have to watch from home?

The ending is going to be tragic.

Haymitch was punished after winning his games because he identified and exploited a flaw in the force field on camera. President Snow retaliated by killing his mother, brother, and girlfriend. He was allowed to return to District 12, but he spent the next 24 years there alone. (Shout out to those suggesting Kiefer Sutherland take on the mantle and play older Snow, BTW.)

Caesar Flickerman, Tigris, and Effie Trinket could appear.

What are the Capitol residents up to during the Quarter Quell? Caesar was hosting by this point. Tigris was a stylist up until Katniss’ youth. As for Effie… I know y’all want to see Effie in some fashion — no pun intended. We’re all desperate for crumbs that explain why those two (Haymitch and Effie) are so flirty with a side of animosity in the original trilogy and the movies. Fingers crossed!

And we could get more about what went wrong between Tigris and Coriolanus.

This one comes straight from Coriolanus Snow himself, actor Tom Blyth, who recently shared he’d love to be in more Hunger Games movies. Could we get scenes that explore the ruination of the relationship between Tigris and Coryo? “There's a lot more to tell about Snow and his cousin Tigris and I just feel like there is so much about that world that is so rich and eligible to be delved into more,” he told the Herald Sun. (Numbers wise, it might not make sense for Blyth to reprise, but who knows?)

The Everdeen family could appear.

If a decent amount of this book takes place in District 12 (judging by the title that does seem likely) we could meet younger versions of Katniss and Primrose’s parents. Here I go doing math again, but this book takes place 40 years after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. That means we could also see a middle-aged Maude Ivory Baird, who many think is Katniss’ grandmother.

The Donner sisters could be significant.

Maysilee Donner, one of two female tributes from District 12, was in an alliance with Haymitch in the arena. Her twin sister went on to marry the Mayor of District 12, and her daughter Madge gave Katniss the Mockingjay pin to take into the arena. I’d keep my eye on this character and the whereabouts of the pin.

Mags could be District 12’s mentor.

We don’t know when the Capitol decided to have victors mentor tributes. But District 12 didn’t have any available victors before Haymitch. Lucy Gray went missing. I have basically no evidence but what if District 12’s mentors were probably left over from districts with a lot of victors? If I were to draw from existing Hunger Games characters I would choose Mags Flanagan. Maybe she was secretly a fan of Lucy Gray, and wanted to work with District 12. It would explain why Haymitch has so much respect for her a quarter of a century later.

What if it’s not about Haymitch at all?

In a statement, Collins said “With Sunrise on the Reaping, I was inspired by David Hume’s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, ‘the easiness with which the many are governed by the few,’” which seems like a direct reference to the number of tributes and how there are so many more District citizens than capitol citizens. Maybe this book is about all of them.

It could be about marketing.

At the end of the day, the games are a reality show just as capable of a villain edit as The Bachelorette. Who makes those edits? Collins also said in her statement that “the story [lent] itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative. The question ‘Real or not real?’ seems more pressing to me every day.” We’ve read books from the perspective of tributes and mentors. What if this book is about the media itself — the production team that spins child murders into compelling narratives? (I just hope that doesn’t mean nepo baby Caesar Flickerman is the protagonist.)

What if we’re wrong about everything?

Katniss only knows what she knows because of the edited and televised version of the games — and in the books she’s something of an unreliable narrator herself. It would be so cool if Sunrise on the Reaping challenged what we thought we knew about Haymitch and the Quarter Quell. If this story is about what’s real, big surprises may be in store.

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue

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