‘Hunger Games’ Prequel Novel ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ Coming

Winner winner chicken dinner.
Photo: Lionsgate/Everett Collection

The games, dear Lord! The games are positively famished. They haven’t eaten in weeks! We must feed them again, perhaps with another book? Or, for the illiterate among us, a new film? Well, everyone’s in luck. We’re getting a book in 2025 and a movie in 2026 — before Wicked Part Two.

A new Hunger Games prequel titled Sunrise on the Reaping is out on March 18, 2025, according to a Scholastic press release. The new prequel, the fifth book in the series, will follow the second Quarter Quell in Panem’s history, beginning on the day of the reaping — also known as the games that Haymitch Abernathy (played by Woody Harrelson in the second movie) won. The second book in the original series, Catching Fire, does include a scene in which Katniss and Peeta watch Haymitch’s game, so writer Suzanne Collins will have a lot of known history to contend with. In the original version, the second Quarter Quell’s twist saw twice the tributes being drawn.

“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,’” Collins said in the press release. “The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative.” The upcoming novel will begin on the morning of the Quarter Quell’s reaping, then it’s straight to the games for the real stars: bloodthirsty hummingbirds.

A few hours after the book was announced, Lionsgate pushed out a second reveal: Sunrise on the Reaping will be made into a movie. Yeah, we knew. Francis Lawrence, who has directed every film in the franchise since Catching Fire, is in talks to direct, and the film is currently scheduled for November 20, 2026 — exactly one week before Wicked Part Two, if you’re keeping track.