Pack your bags, because we are going back to Panem, and we already have our new Haymitch Abernathy, Lenore Dove Baird, and Plutarch Heavensbee.
In case you are new here, the Hunger Games franchise has gotten yet another chapter with the prequel, Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which first arrived in book form and will really soon be adapted into a movie.
First announced on June 6, 2024, Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is the second prequel in the series after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which was adapted for film in November 2023 and starred Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth.
Penned by Suzanne Collins, the fifth installment in the Hunger Games saga arrived on March 18, 2025. The cover for the book, designed by Tim O’Brien, was loaded with meaningful symbols in shades of purple and gold.
“The spiky sun rises on a symbol that will come to mean a lot to Haymitch Abernathy, as well as countless readers,” David Levithan, VP, publisher and editorial director for Scholastic, shared in a statement. According to Levithan, the cover explores the central theme of “how conflicting forces can be connected by their common nature, the songbird and the snake springing from the same source.”
According to the official book synopsis by Scholastic, the publishing company that owns the English rights to the Hunger Games franchise, Sunrise on the Reaping is another prequel series that “revisits the world of Panem twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.”
On October 16, 2024, Scholastic shared more details about Sunrise on the Reaping, confirming the story’s focus on the character of Haymitch Abernathy, who would later become Katniss Everdeen’s trainer when she enters the Games. (In fact, the book has plenty of Katniss references as readers learn more about Haymitch’s journey and how the things he dealt with as a tribute impacted his future.)
With the book out and fans digging in, the focus is now on the movie adaptation. Below, find out everything we know so far about The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
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Who is in the cast of the Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping movie?
After much speculation, Lionsgate announced the first two cast members for the Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping movie on April 23, 2025.
Newcomer Joseph Zada has been cast as young Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. If you are unfamiliar with Zada, he reportedly hails from Sydney, Australia, and was born in 2005, which means he is 20 years old at the time of writing. Zada, who formerly went by Joseph Cumpston, comes from a family of actors.
The actor has a few titles to his name, including queer drama Invisible Boys and Prime Video’s upcoming We Were Liars. He will also appear alongside the likes of Florence Pugh and Mike Faist in Netflix’s limited series adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel East of Eden, which wrapped filming in March 2025.
