Exciting news, Hunger Games fans! Production on the dystopian franchise’s upcoming prequel film The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is officially underway.
On Wednesday (August 8), the official Hunger Games X (formerly Twitter) account shared a new video taken from the movie’s set in Somiedo Natural Park in Spain, where Sunrise on the Reaping has finally begun filming.
The brief 36-second clip appears to offer fans a taste of the forthcoming film’s second Quarter Quell arena consisting of sweeping vistas, sprawling wildflower meadows, babbling brooks, and mountainous terrain—an idyllic contrast from the tragic teenage violence inevitably to come.
“The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping – now in production,” the video is captioned. Watch below.
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Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film will follow a young Haymitch Abernathy — originally brought to screen by Woody Harrelson in the original trilogy, now played by Joseph Zada (We Were Liars) — as he tries to survive the 50th Hunger Games tournament in Panem, which is under complete totalitarian control.
Zada makes an appearance by his trailer in the video above. The movie’s got a stacked cast, too, with additional members including Jesse Plemons, Elle Fanning, Ralph Fiennes, Mckenna Grace, Kieran Culkin, Lili Taylor, Glenn Close, Maya Hawke, and more.
Lionsgate announced plans to make a film adaptation of The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins’ prequel novel Sunrise on the Reaping in June 2024, a year before the novel was officially released in March of 2025.
The plot takes place 40 years after the events of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and nearly 25 years prior to the events of the first Hunger Games book and film.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is currently scheduled to be released in theaters on November 20, 2026. Watch a teaser announcement for the film below.
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