The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping: First look at trailer and what to know about long-awaited prequel

The first trailer has dropped for the eagerly-awaited prequel The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping..

Based on the book of the same name by Suzanne Collins, this marks the second prequel following the release of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes in 2023, starring Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth, adapted from the 2020 book.

The film centres around a young Haymitch Abernathy (Joseph Zada), who is a District 12 mentor to Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mallark in the original Hunger Games franchise (played by Woody Harrelson in the films).

The Hunger Games

What is the plot of Sunrise on the Reaping?

Sunrise on the Reaping is set 24 years before the events of the original films - specifically, on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell- and in the trailer, we see the young Haymitch compete in the deadly games.

This year is particularly brutal since for the Second Quarter Quell (the Quarter Quell happens every 25 years), the districts are required to send double the tributes to the Games, with 48 in total competing for their lives.

At the end, Harrelson's voice can be heard saying, "I think these games are gonna be different."

Who else is cast in the film?

Along with Joseph Zada as young Haymitch, the cast also includes:

• Elle Fanning as a young Effie Trinket, who was originally played by Elizabeth Banks,
• Ralph Fiennes plays President Coriolanus Snow, previously portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the original films and Tom Blyth in the “Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” prequel.
• Jesse Plemons as a young Plutarch Heavensbee, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman inCatching Fire and the two Mockingjay films.
• Kieran Culkin as a young Caesar Flickerman, the TV host of the Hunger Games, played by Stanley Tucci in the original films.
• Kelvin Harrison Jr. as a young Beetee Latier, played by Jeffrey Wright in Catching Fire and the two Mockingjay films.
• Maya Hawke, as a young Wiress, played by Amanda Plummer in Catching Fire.
• Other cast members include: Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, Glenn Close as Drusilla Sickle, Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Billy Porter as Magno Stift, Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow, Molly McCann as Louella McCoy, Iona Bell as Lou Lou and Percy Daggs IV as Ampert Latier.

The Hunger games

What happened in the last movie from The Hunger Games franchise?

The last movie in The Hunger Games franchise was The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), which was set 64 years before the original trilogy, in which we see 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (before he became tyrannical president of Panem) mentor District 12's Lucy Gray Baird at the 10th annual Hunger Games

"Uniting their instincts for showmanship and political savvy, they race against time to ultimately reveal who's a songbird and who's a snake," the plot synopsis reads.

Social media reacts to Sunrise on the Reaping trailer

Since the trailer dropped, fans of the film series have been sharing their excitement at the first look.

One person said, "Me when i heard Woody Harrelson’s voice saying, 'i think these games are gonna be different' at the end of the Sunrise on the Reaping trailer."

"For my mental stability, I’m going to pretend I didn’t just watch the trailer for Sunrise on the Reaping," a second person wrote.

A third person posted, "I volunteer to be in [the] cinema first day first show!"

"PUTTING THIS SCENE IN THE TRAILER ??? YOU GUYS ARE ACTUALLY CRAZY" a fourth person exclaimed.

"Genuinely perfect 10/10 no notes. Every cast member has made it their personal mission to do the books and the franchise justice and you can see that in even just a two-minute trailer," someone else shared.

When is the release date for Sunrise on the Reaping?

Fans have one year exactly to wait as The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is out in cinemas on November, 20 2026.

This post sums up viewers' feelings, with one person writing, "I can’t believe I still have a whole year to wait for Sunrise on the Reaping… this is torture."

Elsewhere from Indy100, Kieran Culkin and Elle Fanning join cast of Hunger Games, and Why we're all back in our 'Hunger Games' era according to fans, experts and the stars of the iconic series.

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