‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’ Teaser Shows Off New Cast and Arena

“The Hunger Games,” Suzanne Collins’ hit dystopian-teen series, returns to the big screen with its sixth installment: “Sunrise on the Reaping.” Lionsgate, which green lit the film prior to the book’s publication, released the movie’s first official teaser trailer, bringing audiences a never-before-seen version of Panem. 

‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ is a Prequel

“Sunrise on the Reaping” is the second prequel in the “The Hunger Games” franchise, taking place 24 years before the events of “The Hunger Games” and 40 years after “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” A film adaptation of the latter novel released in 2023, featuring Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth as Lucy Gray Baird and a young President Coriolanus Snow during the 10th annual Hunger Games. 

In “Sunrise on the Reaping,” Haymitch Abernathy, played by Woody Harrelson in the original trilogy, enters the arena for the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the second Quarter Quell. A typical reaping takes 24 teenaged tributes away from the 12 Districts and puts them into the arena, but this special version of the Games reaps twice as many. Throughout the harrowing story, Katniss and Peeta’s eventual mentor finds himself facing not just his fellow tributes, but the powerful, shadowy figures operating behind Panem’s closed doors. 

Joseph Zada, seen in Amazon’s We Were Liars, plays Haymitch. Harrelson can be heard in a voiceover, in which he ominously proclaims: “I think these games are going to be different.”

“Sunrise on the Reaping” Features a Brand New Cast 

“Sunrise on the Reaping” brings several new characters into the “The Hunger Games” series but also features many familiar faces. Acting alongside Zada are major names starring as iconic characters like Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman and Ralph Fiennes as President Snow. 

Other newcomers to the “The Hunger Games” cinematic universe include Whitney Peak (Gossip Girl) as Haymitch’s girlfriend Lenore Dove and Ben Wang (The Long Walk), Mckenna Grace (Regretting You) and Molly McCann (Vivarium) as fellow District 12 tributes Wyatt, Maysilee and Louella.

Francis Lawrence returns to direct his fifth “The Hunger Games” film. Helming the movies since “Catching Fire,” Lawrence has made a niche for himself in the “teen death game” genre. The filmmaker directed an adaptation of Stephen King’s dystopian horror “The Long Walk” earlier this year. “Sunrise on the Reaping” began filming this summer and remains in production.  

“Sunrise on the Reaping” arrives in theaters on November 20, 2026. 

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