It’s a good day for “Hunger Games” fans, because publisher Scholastic and film company Lionsgate just dropped back-to-back announcements about the upcoming book and film in the franchise.

Entitled “Sunrise on the Reaping,” the new book and film will take us back 24 years before the start of the first “Hunger Games” novel. It will revolve around the 50th Hunger Games, aka the Second Quarter Quell, which is said to be the deadliest bloodbath in the history of the Games.

It’s known that the victor of the 50th Hunger Games was District 12’s Haymitch Abernathy, the mentor of original trilogy’s Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark.

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While details on casting have yet to be revealed, what we do know so far is that the story will begin on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games.

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While the previous books feature mythology and gladiator games as its key inspirations, author Suzanne Collins adds philosopher David Hume to “Sunrise on the Reaping’s” influences.

“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,’” she says. “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.”

Guess we’re adding some Hume readings to our pre-“Hunger Games” preps as we lead up to the book and film’s release. Our Philo profs will be proud.

The novel of “Sunrise on the Reaping” is set to be published on Mar. 18, 2025, while the film is expected to hit the theaters on Nov. 20, 2026.

 

Header art by Mikiyo Ricamora