Just shy of two decades since the original Hunger Games book was published for young adults, Scholastic has announced a fifth installment is on the way in 2025 — Suzanne Collins has written a follow-up, Sunrise on the Reaping.

This will mark Collins’ return to Panem following her fourth book about the dystopian civilization, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, released in 2020. Unsurprisingly, it was a number-one bestseller (same as the first three books in the original trilogy) and subsequently adapted into a film of the same name by Lionsgate. Like A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping will take place before the days of Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen.

Here’s everything we know (so far) about this exciting new development — including whether or not a film adaptation is in the works as well.

When will Sunrise on the Reaping be released?

The new book will hit shelves on March 18, 2025.

What is it about?

The synopsis for Sunrise on the Reaping says the story “will revisit the world of Panem 24 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.”

Eagle-eyed fans may remember that the 50th Hunger Games also happened to be the year that Haymitch Abernathy played in and won the Hunger Games. That move would eventually lead to him being Katniss’s useful but complicated mentor during her time competing in the Hunger Games.

It seems as if we’ll finally get a Haymitch origin story, learn about his reaping, his time competing, and *maybe, hopefully,* the aftermath of his victory and the trauma he endured to secure it.

“Suzanne Collins has done it again, bringing us back to the world of Panem in order to ask us important questions about our own world,” shared Ellie Berger, President of Scholastic Trade. “Sunrise on the Reaping is a remarkable book, bringing new complexity, perspective, and revelations to a piece of the Hunger Games story that readers have longed to know more about.”

Diving further into the contents of Sunrise on the Reaping, Collins shared that the world’s current state of affairs served as a springboard, too. “The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative. The question ‘Real or not real?’ seems more pressing to me every day,” Collins said, further noting that the book was inspired by David Hume’s idea of “implicit submission” or, according to Hume, “the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.”

As with each Hunger Games novel, readers can expect the book to look deeper into our individual and collective humanity, our obsession with celebrities (or “influencers”), and the needs of the many versus the desires of the few.

Will there be a Sunrise on the Reaping movie, too?

Not only has Lionsgate confirmed a movie adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping, but they also announced a theatrical release date! The film version of the just-announced book is set to arrive in theaters on Nov. 20, 2026.

Each of Collins’ previous Hunger Games novels has gotten the movie treatment. The first three films — The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay — starred (among many others) Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss and Woody Harrelson as the troubled Haymitch Abernathy.

The next Collins’ book-turned-movie, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, took place 64 years before Katniss’ reaping and starred Viola Davis, Rachel Zegler, and Tom Blythe.

Who could play a young Woody Harrelson in a Sunrise on the Reaping film? Depending on how long it takes, there’s always that viral doppelganger baby. Others have suggested Jake Paul and even Austin Butler look like a young Harrelson, though they might be too old to play Haymitch at the time of his reaping.

Regardless, fans and critics predict Sunrise on the Reaping will be a wild success. Previous novels in the series have been translated into more than 50 languages with more than 100 million copies printed. The new book will have simultaneous print, audio, and digital releases in America, Canada, The UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

With almost a year until Collins’ newest novel is released, now seems like a good time to reread her first four so you’re caught up and ready to look for Easter eggs.