Prepare to meet Haymitch Abernathy—again.
Decades before he returned to the Capitol as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark’s haunted mentor in the 2008 novel The Hunger Games, the District 12 resident braved the arena and won—but at what cost? Well, everything, it seems. And Suzanne Collins’ latest entry into her beloved YA series, Sunrise on the Reaping, out now, will finally give fans an inside look into how Haymitch’s treacherous journey to victory during the 50th Hunger Games leads him to the drunken, reclusive life Katniss and Peeta find him in when they are chosen as tributes in the 74th Hunger Games.
As such, the Haymitch depicted in Sunrise on the Reaping is a far cry from the man fans met in the original trilogy. “He has a much greater capacity for hope and love and joy” than Katniss and young Coriolanus Snow, whose origins she explored in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Collins told her publisher in a rare interview.
“There’s far more color to his expression, more humor,” she explained. “Sadly, at the end of the book you see his concentrated effort to strip all that away, so by the time you reach the trilogy, his language has lost the musicality of his youth. A combination of his desperation to forget combined with years of Capitol TV erase it.”
But Collins is bringing it back to life in her prequel, detailing the tragedies that drove him into seclusion.
Here’s what to remember before diving back into the world of Panem in Sunrise on the Reaping…
Who Is Haymitch Abernathy?
When readers are introduced to Haymitch in The Hunger Games, the 40-year-old is District 12’s only living Hunger Games winner—and the second overall—who has lapsed into a reclusive alcoholic in the 24 years since his victory. While Haymitch (played by Woody Harrelson in all four movies) makes it plain that he’s resigned to drink the rest of his life away rather than mentor more kids before they head to their death in the games, he’s quite literally shaken into action by Katniss and Peeta demanding he give them a fighting chance.
Beyond being the chief advocate for Katniss and Peeta while they’re in the games, Haymitch becomes an ally as they journey through the victory tour, the Third Quarter Quell and ultimately the second rebellion.
What Do We Know About Haymitch Abernathy’s Time in the Hunger Games Before Sunrise on the Reaping?
A 16-year-old Haymitch was chosen to compete in the 50th Hunger Games, or what is known as the Second Quarter Quell. Unlike the regular Hunger Games, which saw a boy and girl from each district chosen to compete, his year the number of candidates doubled, meaning two boys and two girls from each district compete—though still only one could make it out alive. While the books in the original Hunger Games trilogy shy away from giving too many details from the games, there are glimpses.
Catching Fire depicts Katniss and Peeta watching footage from the Games and they refer to a “stunt” Haymitch pulled that was almost as bad as their threat that led to them being named joint winners.
However, it’s not until Mockingjay where Haymitch reveals the price he paid for his victory. “My mother and younger brother. My girl,” he tells Katniss. “They were all dead two weeks after I was crowned victor. Because of that stunt I pulled with the force field. Snow had no one to use against me.”
As for why Snow didn’t just kill him, he notes, “I was the example. The person the young Finnicks and Johannas and Cashmeres. Of what could happen to a victor who caused problems.”
What Are the Hunger Games?
The Hunger Games are an annual event run by the Panem’s Capitol, in which a boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen at random in each of the 12 districts to compete to the death in an arena—until there is one left, who will ostensibly be showered with riches. (Though, as the series reveals, that is not quite the case.)
The Games, televised for all of Panem to see, serve as a reminder of the price those in the districts pay for their attempt at a rebellion.
What Is a Quarter Quell in the Hunger Games?
As if the Hunger Games themselves aren’t brutal enough, every 25 years the Games feature a special twist. During the first Quarter Quell, as revealed in Catching Fire, the tributes were not chosen at random, but rather each district was made to vote on which young boy and girl they would send to their (likely) death.
Sunrise on the Reaping follows the Second Quarter Quell, during with the tribute number was doubled from 24 to 48. As for the third—and ultimately last—Quarter Quell, the tributes were chosen from the districts’ past winners, no matter the age or limitation.
How Many Years Before The Hunger Games Does Sunrise on the Reaping Take Place?
Sunrise on the Reaping takes place 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games as Haymitch is chosen as a tribute during the 50th Games while Katniss and Peeta enter the arena the 74th year.
As for where The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes fits in, it takes place 40 years before Sunrise on the Reaping as District 12’s Lucy Gray Baird prepares to enter the arena for the 10th Hunger Games—captivating young Coriolanus Snow in the process.
Will There Be a Sunrise on the Reaping Movie?
Yep, on the very day Scholastic announced the book was on its way, Lionsgate confirmed it would be heading to the big screen—and it already has a release date. The film hits theaters November 20, 2026.
Keep reading for more secrets about the world of The Hunger Games…
1. When we tell you every young actress volunteered as tribute to play The Hunger Games’ bow-and-arrow wielding heroine Katniss Everdeen, we really mean it. Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Emma Roberts, Saoirse Ronan, Chloë Grace Moretz, Jodelle Ferland, Lyndsy Fonseca, Emily Browning, Shailene Woodley, Kaya Scodelario and Troian Bellisario all auditioned, but Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence was director Gary Ross‘ first choice from the beginning.
“I absolutely cast the right person for the role and in my view there wasn’t even a question who the best Katniss was,” Ross told Entertainment Weekly in 2011. “It was the easiest casting decision I ever made in my life.”
2. But Lawrence needed time to decide whether or not she wanted to take on the role, nervous about the level of fame she would be catapulted into. (See: Twilight‘s Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.)
“It was the middle of the night in England, and I was in bed when I got the call,” Lawrence told MTV News. “And I was so in love with the books and the script, and suddenly it was right in my face—and the size of the decision was terrifying.” Ultimately, it was her mom, Karen Lawrence, who helped her commit to the movie.
“She called me a hypocrite, because when I was doing indie movies and everyone was asking why I didn’t do studio movies, I said, ‘The size of the movie doesn’t matter,'” Lawrence recalled. “And she said, ‘Here’s a movie you love and you were thinking of turning it down because of its size.’ I thought, ‘I don’t want to miss out because I’m scared. Me being scared, I never want that to stop me from doing something.’ But I knew in my heart that I wanted it—it was about working out all the fears.”
3. After Lawrence was officially announced as Katniss, the Internet did what it tends to do: Get mad that the 20-year-old actress was older than the character, who is 16 in the first book, and that she was (gasp!) blonde. But Ross wasn’t concerned with the initial backlash, telling Entertainment Weekly that The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins, who co-wrote the script, signed off on Lawrence’s casting.
“Not only did Suzanne not have an issue with Jen’s age, she felt you need someone of a certain maturity and power to be Katniss,” the filmmaker said. “This is a girl who needs to incite a revolution. We can’t have an insubstantial person play her, and we can’t have someone who’s too young to play this. Suzanne was incredibly adamant about this. Far from being too old, she was very concerned that we would cast someone who was too young.”
4. Lawrence paid no attention to the response to her casting, telling MTV News, “No, because the internet to me is like a black hole. I never really go on it.”
She added, “I wasn’t really aware that everybody was so upset until after I got my hair dyed. Then people were like, ‘Oh my gosh, blonde hair can turn brown!'”
5. Lawrence was paid just $500,000 for the first movie. For the sequel, 2013’s Catching Fire, she netted $10 million.
6. When it came to Katniss’ fellow District 12 tribute and eventual love interest Peeta Mellark, Alexander Ludwig, Hunter Parrish, Lucas Till and Evan Peters read for the part, which ultimately went to Josh Hutcherson.
“When I read the book, I thought Peeta would be the hardest role to cast, and I feel so lucky that we found someone who embodies every aspect of such a complex character,” Ross said in a statement at the time. “I can’t wait to work with Josh.”
7. For Gale Hawthorne, Katniss’ brooding childhood best friend, Liam Hemsworth beat out David Henrie, Drew Roy and Robbie Amell. “Gale is a young man who uses words very sparingly, so the onus was on the actor we cast to capture him by showing, not telling,” producer Nina Jacobson said. “This was accomplished so beautifully in Suzanne’s writing, and Liam was able to translate it so naturally to the screen.”
8. All three leads had to dye their hair for the movie, with the naturally blonde Hemsworth going dark, Hutcherson bleaching his locks and Lawrence going brunette after an extensive process to find the right brunette shade.
Hair designer and head stylist Linda Flowers revealed to Cosmopolitan in 2014 that they rented six $5,000 wigs in a range of brown colors, with Ross ultimately picking the darkest hue to use as a guide when dyeing Lawrence’s hair even though his star preferred the lightest.
9. To prepare for the physically demanding role, Lawrence underwent various workout methods.
“It’s lots of training but the training’s actually really fun,” she told MTV News. “I’ve done archery for about six weeks, and rock climbing, tree climbing, combat, running and vaulting. But also yoga and things like that, to stay catlike.”
10. Lawrence had an accident on the last day of her six-week training program, hitting a wall during an exercise that almost delayed production.
“I ran at it and my foot didn’t go up, so I caught the wall with my stomach,” Lawrence revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. “My trainer thought I had burst my spleen. I had to get a CAT scan and go into a tube where they put this fiery liquid in your body.” Fortunately, nothing was broken and a bruised Lawrence was able to continue.
11. Hutcherson also trained extensively prior to filming, telling Collider in 2012, “I’d never really done that for a movie. I put on about 15 pounds of muscle, so that was a lot of eating chicken, and a very high protein, low carb diet.”
12. As for Hemsworth, he revealed his older brother, Thor‘s Chris Hemsworth, offered him some surprising advice to prep for the movie.
“My brother texted me before shooting and told me to lose weight,” Hemsworth revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. “He said, ‘It’s called The Hunger Games, not The Eating Games!'”
13. Several weeks into filming, Lawrence knocked Hutcherson unconscious when she accidentally kicked him in the head.
“She was being a real show-off, thinking that she was Jackie Chan or something,” Hutcherson recalled in an interview with Yahoo. “[She was] throwing these air kicks and was like, ‘Josh, I can kick over your head!’ And then crack! She clipped me in the temple…I don’t really remember, because I got knocked out.” When Hutcherson came to again, he said, “She was crying. She felt terrible. I woke up with her [crying], laying over me.”
14. While filming in North Carolina, the cast and crew faced 100-degree heat, daily rain showers and bears that would wander onto set when they smelled food.
15. Woody Harrelson initially passed twice on the role of Katniss and Peeta’s drunken mentor Haymitch Abernathy, admitting to The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, “I didn’t have any idea it would be that big, but I didn’t think it was a good part. I was wrong. It was a terrific part and it was a terrific thing, but thank God Gary Ross called me.”
16. Elizabeth Banks required daily manicures for her look as Katniss and Peeta’s Capitol escort Effie Trinket and the intricate nails proved to be quite impractical on-set.
“I literally didn’t function,” Banks told Collider in 2012. “I had ladies-in-waiting that did everything for me. I couldn’t type on my phone. I couldn’t go to the bathroom. I couldn’t get in and out of [my costume]. By the time I got to the lunch line, everybody was back in their trailers, done with lunch. I was like, ‘There’s no one to eat with! I just got here!’ It took me 25 minutes to get in and out of my costume.”
17. Lenny Kravitz, who was cast as Katniss’ stylist and confidant Cinna, actually had a relationship with Lawrence prior to filming, thanks to his daughter Zoe Kravitz.
“They were doing X-Men: First Class here in London, I live in Paris so they’d take the train and my house was basically the flop house for the cast,” he told HeyUGuys in 2012. “So I would bring different people for the weekend to hang out in Paris, so I met Jennifer and immediately just fell in love with her. She’s just amazing. Super funny, really funny, at all times she keeps you cracking up. So I got to know her like that. It was quite funny when I asked Gary ‘So who’s playing Katniss?’ and he said ‘Jennifer Lawrence,’ and he liked the fact that we already had a relationship. He thought that’d help because I already kind of look at her like a daughter in a way, so it’s going to be good.”
18. “Safe & Sound,” the film’s original song co-written and performed by Taylor Swift featuring the Civil Wars, won Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards in 2013.
19. When the film was released in March 2012, it set records for opening day (grossing $67.3 million) and opening weekend for a non-sequel ($152 million). It went on to become the third highest grossing movie of the year.
20. While he was initially set to return, director Ross ultimately stepped away from the franchise, with Francis Lawrence directing the three followup films.
“Well, it was a very hard decision,” Ross explained to Variety in March 2022. “I think what people didn’t realize is that I had two jobs. I wrote and I directed, and you do one of those things before you do the other. There was honestly no time to do both well in the three-and-a half months between movies, so I moved on. I got to make Free State of Jones, which not many people saw but remains one of my favorite pieces of work, so—all good.”
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Sunrise on the Reaping (A Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins
Return to the world of Panem in Sunrise on the Reaping, the highly anticipated Hunger Games prequel. The story dives into the 50th Games, where stakes are higher, secrets run deeper, and every choice is a fight for survival.
