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

Murray Close/Lionsgate

Pack your bags because we are going back to Panem. The Hunger Games franchise is getting yet another chapter with the newly announced Sunrise on the Reaping.

Announced on June 6, 2024, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is the second prequel in the series after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Penned by Suzanne Collins, the fifth installment in the Hunger Games saga will arrive much sooner than we expect — both as a book and a movie. Below, find out everything we know so far about The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

→ Plot
→ Book release date
→ Movie announcement
→ Director
→ Movie release date

What is The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping about?

According to the official book synopsis by Scholastic, the publishing company that owns the English rights to the Hunger Games franchise, Sunrise on the Reaping is another prequel series that will “revisit the world of Panem twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.”

“The Second Quarter Quell is legendary and looms large over the history of the Games, even into the time of Katniss Everdeen a quarter-century later. Like fans around the globe, we are eagerly anticipating this exciting return to Panem,” Adam Fogelson, chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said about the new prequel.

“Suzanne Collins has done it again, bringing us back to the world of Panem in order to ask us important questions about our own world,” said Ellie Berger, president of Scholastic Trade. “Sunrise on the Reaping is a remarkable book, bringing new complexity, perspective, and revelations to a piece of the Hunger Games story that readers have longed to know more about.”

Collins herself shared she was inspired by David Hume for 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.’ The story also 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,” she said in press assets.

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When will The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping book come out?

The Sunrise on the Reaping book is slated for a March 18, 2025 release. You can check out the placeholder cover art below:

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Will The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping be turned into a movie?

Yes, Lionsgate announced Sunrise on the Reaping will be adapted into a major motion picture to coincide with the book’s announcement. The film project was unveiled by Adam Fogelson, chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.

The new Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping movie will be produced by Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson under the Color Force. The duo has previously produced all five existing movies in the Hunger Games franchise, from 2012’s Hunger Games to 2023’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

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Who will direct the Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping movie?

That remains to be seen but Lionsgate did announce it is currently in talks with Francis Lawrence to join the Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping movie as its director. Lawrence has served as director for four out of five Hunger Games films since Catching Fire. (The first movie was directed by Gary Ross).

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When will the Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping movie be released?

Though the announcement has only just been made, we know the Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping movie will be released in theaters in North America on November 20, 2026.

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This post will continue to be updated as news about the Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping book and movie breaks.

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue

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