Panem returns to cinemas on November 20. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping adapts Suzanne Collins’ 2025 bestseller and tells the origin story of Haymitch Abernathy, the sardonic mentor audiences first met in the original films. With a star-studded cast and a franchise-veteran director, it is one of the biggest releases of the holiday season.
Key facts
- Release: November 20, 2026, in theaters
- Director: Francis Lawrence · Screenplay: Billy Ray
- Young Haymitch: Joseph Zada
The story
Set 24 years before the first Hunger Games film, the story follows a teenage Haymitch from District 12 during the 50th Hunger Games — the Second Quarter Quell, in which twice the usual number of tributes are reaped from each district. The novel was praised for deepening the series’ themes of propaganda, resistance and the cost of survival, and includes an epilogue featuring an older Katniss and Peeta.
The cast
- Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy (played by Woody Harrelson in the original films)
- Ralph Fiennes as President Coriolanus Snow
- Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket
- Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman
- Jesse Plemons as a young Plutarch Heavensbee
- Glenn Close as Drusilla Sickle and Billy Porter as Magno Stift
- Maya Hawke as Wiress, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee and Lili Taylor as Mags
- McKenna Grace, Whitney Peak and Ben Wang as District 12 characters
Trade reports have also said Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson will return, though their roles have not been officially detailed.
A franchise in safe hands
Francis Lawrence directed Catching Fire, both Mockingjay films and The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, giving the series a consistent visual identity. Producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force also return.
Haymitch has always been the franchise’s most tragic figure — this film finally shows us why.
Box office expectations
Opening the weekend before Thanksgiving in the United States puts the film in a lucrative slot, with little direct competition for young-adult audiences now that Netflix’s Narnia has moved to February 2027. After a strong 2026 at the box office led by Spider-Man: Brand New Day, exhibitors are counting on Panem to close the year on a high.
More film coverage in our Entertainment section.