Suzanne Collins is returning to the Hunger Games universe with the release of the fifth book in the series, “Sunrise on the Reaping”. The book is slated for a release date of March 18th, 2025. It is available for pre-order now.
Sunrise on the Reaping will be the second prequel after the original trilogy. The 2019 novel, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, was the first prequel and fourth book in the series overall.
The story will be set twenty-four years before the events of the first book, The Hunger Games, at the Second Quarter Quell. This was the 50th Hunger Games and featured double the amount of tributes than ever before.
Haymitch Abernathy from District 12 will be a major focus of the book. He served as Katniss Everdeen’s mentor in the original series. Hunger Games readers will remember that he competed in the Second Quarter Quell, the only other person from District 12 to win the Hunger Games. Or did he? The plot tease by Collins may put this in doubt.
Collins had stated in the past that she would not write more books in the series unless she felt that there was a story to be told. Her inspiration for her latest story came from David Hume’s idea of implicit submission. The idea refers to situations where “men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers,” and the “many are governed by the few.”
Specifically, Collins was inspired to take a look into the use of propaganda and how it is used by those in power to control the narrative. This not only applies to the world of the Hunger Games franchise but to the real world as well, which is where the inspiration struck. Collins has stated the question of whether things are real or not has become more pressing to her every day.
Unsurprisingly, considering the success of all of the other books made into films in this series, “Sunrise on the Reaping” is already slated for adaptation into a feature film. The film has a tentative release date of November 20, 2026, from the Lionsgate production company.
The original series of films featured Woody Harrelson playing Haymitch Abernathy, but he will obviously need to be recast with a much younger actor for the new movie. Coriolanus Snow, played by Donald Sutherland in the original films and Tom Blyth in 2023’s adaptation of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, is likely to return as well. Another new actor is likely since this book takes place 40 years earlier.
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