Jennifer Lawrence Will Return For The Hunger Games: Sunshine On The Reaping

Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson will reprise their roles in the upcoming prequel to The Hunger Games

We’ve hit the “filling in the gaps” era of The Hunger Games, a phenomenon common to modern media franchises where there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of story going forward, but plenty of spaces in the existing timeline to colour in. Star Wars is a repeat offender here. The Hunger Games, for its part, is beholden to original author Suzanne Collins, whose recent writings begat villain origin movie The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes and, soon, another prequel, Sunrise On The Reaping.

Now, The Hollywood Reporter has it that original stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, who played reluctant gladiators-turned-revolutionaries Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in the original four films, will return for the upcoming sixth entry, which will once again be directed by Francis Lawrence.

Lawrence and Hutcherson will presumably reprise those roles in a sequence from the book set after the events of Mockingjay. there’s no word if Woody Harrelson will also be appearing – his character, Haymitch Abernathy, also appears in that part – but you’d have to imagine some conversations about the possibility have taken place.

Haymitch the character does definitely appear, though, albeit much younger than the increasingly grizzled Harrelson. Set 24 years before the main story, Sunrise On The Reaping follows the young Haymitch as he’s forced to compete in the 50th anniversary games, where his experiences help shape him into the PTSD-addled alcoholic we know and love. He’ll be played by Australian actor Joseph Zada.

Joining him will be Ralph Fiennes as President Snow, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee Latier, Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, Glenn Close, Mckenna Grace, Maya Hawke and Whitney Peak.

I’m not particularly across the whole Hunger Games deal – I like the movies well enough, but I’ve never felt a pressing need to revisit them, and the books are never getting anywhere near the top of my To read pile. But I guess this is excellent news for fans of the franchise, who I understand to be legion.