It’s official: Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are returning to The Hunger Games universe, with confirmed roles in the forthcoming prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping.
That’s right, the two stars who got their big breaks shooting arrows and baking bread in the original films will be reprising their roles as THE Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, though the extent of their appearance is being kept under wraps.
The Hollywood Reporter reckons that Lawrence and Hutcherson may appear in a flash-forward, since Sunrise on the Reaping takes us back to the 50th annual Hunger Games of their mentor, Haymitch (played by Woody Harrelson in the original movies).
For those doing the maths, those games took place 24 years before Katniss’ fateful reaping in The Hunger Games. So unless Panem (or author Suzanne Collins) has added time travel to this dystopian future, a flash-forward role for Lawrence and Hutcherson seems most likely.
The pair join an already stacked cast for the prequel that includes Ralph Fiennes, who’ll swap his Voldie wand for the glower of President Snow, as well as Succession’s Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman and Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, and Australia’s own Joseph Zada as Haymitch.
The cast is rounded out by Jesse Plemons, Maya Hawk, Mckenna Grace and Glenn Close, the last of whom terrified audiences with a facelift horrorshow in Sunrise on the Reaping’s recent teaser trailer.
The movie will follow fellow prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which dropped in 2023 and recounted the origin story of President Snow. Meanwhile, the four original movies were released between 2012 to 2015, with all entries based on books penned by Collins.
The Sunrise on the Reaping novel landed in March of this year, sending bookworms into a tizzy since they’d been begging for a closer look into Haymitch’s games — which were only hinted at in the original books.
Lawrence and Hutcherson have kept busy in the years since The Hunger Games catapulted them to fame. Lawrence just earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role in Die My Love, while Hutcherson is currently starring in the Rachel Sennott-created sitcom, I Love LA.
We’ll be sure to keep you updated when more Sunrise on the Reaping details emerge — it’s slated to premiere in November, 2026 — but for now, Lawrence and Hutcherson’s casting proves that perhaps the odds really are ever in our favour.
Lead images: Lionsgate and Getty Images
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