Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, the original stars of the Hunger Games film adaptations, are set to return in the forthcoming instalment of the popular dystopian series.
According to Jeff Sneider’s Insneider newsletter, both Lawrence and Hutcherson are in talks to return for Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
Lawrence and Hutcherson helmed The Hunger Games in 2012 as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the District 12 tributes whose uneasy alliance in the arena became central to the series’ narrative.
Their performances helped the series grow into a multi-billion-dollar global franchise across four films, establishing them as the faces of one of the most commercially and culturally YA adaptations of the 2010s. The original films ran till 2015, grossing over $3.3bn worldwide.
The series then continued with the prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, released in 2020 and adapted into a film in 2023 and starring Rachel Zegler as District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird and Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, who goes on to become the future President of Panem and the primary antagonist of The Hunger Games series. The film went on to gross over $300m in theatres.
Sunrise on the Reaping is set 40 years after The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and follows Katniss’s mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, as he is selected as one of the four tributes from District 12 to compete in the 50th Annual Hunger Games, also called the Second Quarter Quell.
It has not been confirmed if the actors will reprise their roles or come on board as different characters in the prequel, which is set 24 years before the first Hunger Games film.
However, book readers know that there is an epilogue set in the present-day where Haymitch talks to Katniss and Peeta about his time in the Games, so it is likely the actors will reunite for this scene.
The Independent has reached out to representatives for Lawrence, Hutcherson, and Lionsgate for comment.
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Earlier this year, Hutcherson said it would be “cool” to return to the franchise if asked.
“Hunger Games is amazing, and I’ve loved it for many years and I will love it forever,” he told Brit + Co in August, but added that there were no plans at the time.
The announcement for the film adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping followed shortly after the book’s release in 2025. Joseph Zada, Whitney Peak, McKenna Grace have been cast as Haymitch, Lenore Dove Baird, and Maysilee Donner respectively.
Haymitch, the perpetually drunk and bad-tempered mentor to Katniss and Peeta Mellark, was originally played by Woody Harrelson in the Hunger Games films.
Other cast members include Ralph Fiennes as President Coriolanus Snow, Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Kelvin Harrison Jr as Beetee, Maya Hawke as Wiress, Lili Taylor as Mags, Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow, Molly McCann as Louella McCoy, and Iona Bell as Louella’s body double Lou Lou.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is slated to be released on 20 November 2026.