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The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping only just got released, but the movie adaptation is already on the way. The fifth book in the Hunger Games series, released in March, is also being made into a movie, set to be released on November 20, 2026. Suzanne Collins‘ new novel follows a young Haymitch Abernathy (played by Woody Harrelson in the film franchise) and his journey in the Fiftieth Annual Hunger Games. Producer Nina Jacobson provided an update about where the movie now stands, casting details, and more. Keep reading to find out more… On working on the movie while the book wasn’t even out yet: “This is a very different process for us. I’ve never actually worked on an adaptation like this, where you’re so far ahead of the book, and yet people are waiting for it. I knew that she was working on another book, but I really had no idea – it could be years! I certainly did not expect that so soon after Ballad, I would get a call saying, “I have another book. I want you to read it. I want to know whether you think it’s a movie or not,” to me and [director Francis Lawrence],” she told Variety. “We had to do a whole secret thing where I went to her longtime agent’s house and read it. There was one copy of the book that lived at his house. I had to go have my turn. Francis went and had his turn. We were so thrilled. It wrecked me so much as a person who loves to read and who wants to fall headlong into a book that won’t let you go. I was on the edge of my seat, crying. I just was so moved by it and so energized by it, and then could not talk to anybody except for Francis, Suzanne and our studio partners. And many of them hadn’t even read it yet – we just had the one copy to keep it secure and safe! To finally get to share that and get to hear what other people think, I’m just so excited for the fans. I’m just a huge fan who gets to be lucky enough to make the movies.” On the movie’s current status: “We’re much further along than we would ever have been otherwise, without having this jump, because we went to work right away. None of it has been announced yet, but we have a great draft that we’re still doing work on. We’ve established our locations. We’re very far along for a book that’s only going to come out tomorrow!” “You don’t know what the fans are going to respond to, so you just put yourself very easily in their shoes as one of them. I cannot wait to get to hear from them and to see what speaks to them. We do have such a smart and sophisticated fan base that they were able to speculate. They speculated about a lot of things, and I can’t wait for them to match their speculations up with the book. It’s been super thrilling and really rewarding. You feel like you’re planning a big surprise party.”
On casting young Haymitch: “It’s an interesting challenge. Because of this early manuscript not being published, we haven’t even been able to read actors for fear that sides could leak! We’ve been holding our breath for a long time, but I think that what we’re looking for in that role is, you don’t want somebody who’s impersonating Woody, but you want somebody who very credibly feels like they could be a young version of this character, before the trauma and grief and rage that the fallout of the Games create. Nobody can be Woody Harrelson but Woody Harrelson. But you have to find that mischief that he has in him inherently and try to understand, if you turn back time from the man you meet at the beginning of The Hunger Games, who he was before all of that, and why he became that. “It’s a great role. One of the things that’s so unusual about this is that very rarely does a franchise give an actor a chance to really show their chops and the range that they have, but these roles do. We’ve been blessed with very sophisticated actors in our roles. They draw in and attract real acting talent, because her characters are so deep, the ideas are so powerful. It’s a franchise that is still really rooted in incredible character trauma.” Stay tuned for casting details as they come in! Here’s where to buy the book while you wait for the movie.
