Kids

The Odds Are in Our Favor: Hunger Games to Release a New Movie in 2026!

by Kevyn Gohu
June 10, 2024

The beloved young adult dystopian-themed novel, The Hunger Games, is set to release a new movie in 2026!

It looks like the Hunger Games are about to start again! With the new novel coming in 2025 and the movie coming in 2026, Suzanne Collins once again works with Lionsgate to give fans a blast from the past for The Hunger Games.

While Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence) became the strong female lead our daughters and we aspired to be, the story led to more questions. How did President Snow become the man he is? Why was Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss’ mentor in the Hunger Games, capable of leading her to victory despite his drunken stupor?

Those questions end today as Suzanne opens another door once again to Panem’s past. This time, it explores the Hunger Games from the view of young Haymitch Abernathy, who was once the 12th district’s representative and eventually, champion.

With Woody Harrelson playing older Haymitch Abernathy, who's playing the younger version in the new Hunger Games movie? — Haymitch Abernathy (played by Woody Harrelson) – so, who’s playing the younger version in the new Hunger Games movie?

After the origin story of the totalitarian leader, comes the grieving mentor

In the last Hunger Games film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, we saw the story of how Coriolanus Snow eventually became the cold, highly pragmatic, and totalitarian ruler that Katniss had to deal with during the 74th Hunger Games. The film eventually pointed out how Snow’s interest in her stemmed from his past with another candidate: Lucy Gray Baird (played by Rachel Zegler), a singer turned combatant, who Katniss reminded him of.

The semblance becomes further uncanny as she sings the song that Lucy Gray Baird originally penned: The Hanging Tree.

While we’re familiar with the origin of the Mockingjay from both Lucy and Katniss, the cruel, totalitarian, and pragmatic of President Snow, the movie explores the height of the cruelty. Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss’ and Peeta’s drunken mentor, was selected to participate in the special edition of the Hunger Games known as the Quarter Quell. Celebrated only every 25 years, it reveals new mechanics and during Haymitch’s time, he was in the Hunger Games which demanded double the number of participants.

So from the usual 24, it becomes 48 — two males, two females, and only one victor. 47 had to die.

And while many are privy to the ending (with Haymitch as the grand victor and longest-living survivor), the journey of “sarcastic and witty” young Haymitch Abernathy transforming into the drunken mentor many of the readers know now is what many of the fans are waiting for. He drank and knew things — but his extreme drinking hints something even worse followed.

Because allegedly, the aftermath of his victory also scarred him for life.

Waiting patiently for the Sunrise of the Reaping

Unlike the usual young adult novels wherein there’s a female protagonist and a love triangle, the Hunger Games tackles the grayness of morality, teaching its readers — both parent and child — that no decision is 100% good, right, bad, or wrong. Although The Hunger Games demonstrates this principle with more extreme situations, it’s no different from our daily lives whenever we deal with people.

Currently, the tentative release date and title for the latest Hunger Games installment is the Sunrise of the Reaping and the print, digital, and audio of the former will be released on March 18, 2025.

There’s no specific release date yet for the new Hunger Games movie. However, they are teasing it for 2026.