Lionsgate has released a new trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, giving audiences a deeper look at young Haymitch Abernathy and the brutal 50th Hunger Games ahead of the film’s Friday, November 20, 2026 theatrical release.
The trailer, released on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, is the latest major preview of the film and expands the story surrounding Haymitch’s selection as a tribute from District 12 and his entry into the Second Quarter Quell.
Sunrise on the Reaping is set 24 years before the events of the original The Hunger Games story and centres on the 50th Games, a special edition in which each district is required to send twice the usual number of tributes.
The rule means that 48 tributes enter the arena instead of the usual 24, creating one of the largest and most demanding competitions depicted in the franchise.
The new trailer places Joseph Zada at the centre of the story as a younger Haymitch, showing a version of the character before the experiences of the Games eventually transform him into the troubled mentor known from the original story.
The footage also offers glimpses of the Capitol’s preparations, the tribute process, the arena and the growing conflict surrounding Haymitch as he faces a Games designed to demonstrate the Capitol’s power over the districts.
The film is based on Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping, which was published on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, and became the second prequel novel in the Hunger Games literary series.
The adaptation is directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Billy Ray, with the production returning the franchise to the period before Katniss Everdeen’s story.
The film also explores Haymitch before he becomes the hardened figure audiences encounter in the original franchise, with the filmmakers deliberately seeking to show his youthful optimism and hopefulness.
Producer Nina Jacobson said the casting process was focused on finding an actor capable of portraying that earlier version of Haymitch rather than simply copying the character’s later portrayal.
“It was important to us to find somebody who could capture the boy who Haymitch was,” Jacobson said.
She added that the filmmakers wanted to capture “The optimism.”
“The hopefulness.”
“The carefree quality that he seems to have,” noting that these qualities contrast with the Haymitch audiences meet at the beginning of the original series.
The production faced an unusually large logistical challenge because the Second Quarter Quell requires 48 tributes and their corresponding stunt doubles.
Jacobson explained the scale of the production by saying, “We had the 48 tributes, but we also have to have their stunt doubles.”
The movie was filmed partly in Asturias, Spain, where the remote locations added to the practical demands of staging the large-scale production.
The new trailer also continues the film’s exploration of resistance and the relationship between the Capitol and the districts, with Haymitch’s story providing a closer look at events that occurred decades before the rise of Katniss.
Sunrise on the Reaping is the sixth film in the Hunger Games movie franchise and follows The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes as the second cinematic prequel.
The film is scheduled to arrive in cinemas on Friday, November 20, 2026, with an IMAX release also planned.
With the latest trailer now revealing more of Haymitch’s journey from an optimistic young man to a tribute fighting for survival, the film is set to show the events that shaped one of the franchise’s most familiar characters before his life became permanently tied to the Hunger Games.
