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Sunrise on the Reaping and the World of the Hunger Games

Hunger Games mocking jay symbol in red, green, and blue lighting.
Credit: Shutterstock/Anton_Ivanov

Scholastic announced that Suzanne Collins, the author of the acclaimed Hunger Games book series, will publish a new book titled Sunrise on the Reaping. The fifth book in the dystopian fan-favorite series will be released on March 18, 2025.   

What is The Hunger Games?

Years before Collins’ newest book announcement, she began publishing the Hunger Games trilogy in 2008. Following the first book, the rest of the trilogy was released consecutively with Catching Fire in 2009 and Mockingjay in 2010.

The main plot follows Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers for the 74th annual Hunger Games (the Games). The story takes place in the dystopian nation of Panem, which consists of a lavish city called the Capital and twelve other areas or “districts” surrounding it.

The districts must send one girl and one boy as tributes in the Hunger Games process. Each tribute has to fight to the death in hopes of being the last person standing. To save her sister from participating in the Games, Katniss volunteers as tribute. Katniss and her opposite, Peeta Mellark, are made to fight in the arena. The book follows Katniss, her journey during the games, and her eagerness to survive. 

Photo of books in the Hunger Games series.
Hunger Games books. Credit: Shutterstock/Siyapath

Due to its immense popularity, Lionsgate Entertainment adapted the book series into a film series consisting of four films. The films star Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta. The film series started in 2012, with the first film The Hunger Games. In 2015, the last movie, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, marked the end of the series.

Book to film adaptation

The release of Sunrise on the Reaping will come five years after Collins published The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes in 2020. A prequel to the original books, The Ballads sold over 500,000 copies within the first week. It focuses on the character Coriolanus Snow, the antagonist in the original series. 

The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes was also adapted into a film, starring Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird.  After its release in the fall of 2023, the film grossed over $300 million at the Worldwide Box Office, which conveys how eager fans were to continue the story of the Hunger Games world.  

Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Credit: Lionsgate/Murray Close

Future possibilities

The news of the books may come as a shock to some fans, as there had previously been no official confirmation of additional Hunger Games projects.

However, in 2023, the producer of The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes, Nina Jacobson, teased the possibility of more books after speaking with Polygon. “Do I think she will write more books in the world? I do, and I hope she will. Do I have any idea what they’ll be? Not really!” Jacobson said. 

Collins has not thoroughly explained the contents of Sunrise on the Reaping quite yet, but it has been said that the book is set 24 years before the original trilogy’s events. It will take place during what is known as the Second Quarter Quell. Loyal fans will remember that Haymitch Abernathy, the mentor for Katniss and Peeta, won this Hunger Games. 

A screenshot of the video titled "HUNGER GAMES: THE SECOND QUARTER QUELL" Credit: YouTube/@MainstayPro 
A screenshot of the video titled “HUNGER GAMES: THE SECOND QUARTER QUELL” Credit: YouTube/@MainstayPro 

In addition to the book, Lionsgate announced that there will be a film adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping. The movie will be released in theaters on November 20, 2026. 

Fans react

With the announcement of the book, fans are already ready to read. Many have even begun to speculate about the plot.

These fans did not take long to rush to social media to show their excitement, as did The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes star Rachel Zegler, who posted on X.

 Rachel Zegler tweets about wanting a Haymitch origins story Credit: YouTube/@enews 
Rachel Zegler postsabout wanting a Haymitch origin story. Credit: YouTube/@enews 

The idea of the book revolving around Haymitch’s backstory is so popular there is a YouTube video titled “HUNGER GAMES: THE SECOND QUARTER QUELL” from 2011 with over 14 million views.    

Who is Suzanne Collins?

Suzanne Collins at the movie premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Suzanne Collins at the movie premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Credit: Shutterstock/Christopher Halloran

Let’s take a look at the woman behind the words: the one and only Suzanne Collins. According to her website, she began her professional career writing for children’s television on Nickelodeon shows before writing her first series called The Underland Chronicles. After its release, Collins became a New York Times bestseller. She proceeded to write the Hunger Games trilogy and has since sold over 100 million copies of her books worldwide. 

When inspiration strikes  

Inspiration can come in many different circumstances. Suzanne Collins has gathered inspiration from a multitude of places. 

In an interview, Collins told AP News that one such source of inspiration was David Hume, a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher. “With Sunrise on the Reaping, I was inspired by David Hume’s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, ‘the easiness with which the many are governed by the few,’ ” Collins said. “The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative. The question ‘Real or not real?’ seems more pressing to me every day.”

Her original inspiration for the book came from an unlikely combination of sources: reality television, and war reporting.  

Collins told Scholastic that inspiration struck one night in bed when she was surfing through TV channels. “I was very tired…and I was flipping through images on reality television where these young people were competing for a million dollars or whatever, then I was seeing footage from the Iraq war, and these two things began to fuse together in a very unsettling way, and that is the moment where I got the idea for Katniss’s story.” 

Fans are continuing to speculate the new book’s plot points, as well as the actors who may play roles in the film adaptation. There is much to anticipate in the years to come!

Written By

Hello, I am a sophomore at West Virginia University studying Journalism and English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. I love all things film, literature, and music!

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