Based on the book trilogy of the same name, “The Hunger Games” movie franchise started in 2012 with the worldwide release of its first installment, and continued with the release of three more movies in 2013, 2014 and 2015, which concluded the main storyline of the franchise. Since then, there has been a prequel released in both, book and movie formats in 2020 and 2023 respectively, which focused on the antagonist of the series, President Snow, and his moral descent into the cruel governor he portrayed in the main storyline. While most fans of the franchise thought it had come to an end with the prequel, it was just announced that there will be yet another prequel for “The Hunger Games”, and fans are wondering what it will be about.
In order to be able to understand the plot of the new movie, let’s talk about the chronological situation first. The first prequel, titled “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”, revealed the story of how Coriolanus Snow developed his radical and inhumane character, focusing on the events that marked his youth and his political ascent. In terms of timeline, that prequel took place during the 10th annual Hunger Games, also known as the first Quarter Quell, while the main storyline told in the first four movies unveils the events from the 74th and 75th annual Hunger Games, so there’s a 64 years time span between those two stories.
The new prequel, titled “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” is set to unveil the events that took place during the 50th annual Hunger Games, the Second Quarter Quell (there is one every 25 annual games). So, timeline wise, this movie will show the events 40 years after the first prequel, and 24 years before the events of the first movie, kind of in the middle.
The 50th annual Hunger Games, the Second Quarter Quell, happens to be the games that Haymitch Abernathy participated in, and won (well he is alive, so he clearly won). So the new movie will tell the story of the man who after surviving his games ended up with huge alcohol problems and a chronical pessimism, he also trained Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark for their games in the main storyline, which is where we met him.
For the sake of not spoiling anything, we wont be sharing any more details about the particularities of the 50th Hunger Games, nor Haymitch’s arc. The movie is set to come out November 20th of 2026, will you be watching?
