When Does ‘Sunrise On The Reaping’ Take Place? The ‘Hunger Games’ Timeline, Explained
I can’t believe how close we are to The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (2026) now. It’s a big time for fans of The Hunger Games (2012) franchise. The countdown is on. The rereading and rewatches are in full swing. I don’t know if it’s possible for me to forget a single detail from Suzanne Collins’s books or their movie adaptations. It's been years, and they still feel like some of the most important media I’ve experienced in my life. They’re timely and impactful stories about survival and revolution and humanity. The revisiting is mostly about excitedly embedding myself in this impressive, dystopian world before Sunrise on the Reaping releases in theaters.
It’s wild to think that I (and a million others) have been a fan of this film franchise for 14 years. If you were first introduced to these stories through Collins’s books when they first published, then you’ve been a fan for nearly two decades. One of the best things is that Collins has created such a vast world with rich characters that it keeps growing with new books and films, like The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023) and, of course, Sunrise on the Reaping. With those prequels releasing after the initial trilogy, the timeline can get a bit confusing. Here’s what you need to know about when Sunrise on the Reaping takes place in relation to all four of The Hunger Games movies that came before it. Don’t worry—this article won’t contain any spoilers that aren’t already revealed in the original trilogy or promotional material.
How Does ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ Fit Into ‘The Hunger Games’ Timeline?
The most succinct answer to this question is that Sunrise on the Reaping occurs 24 years before Katniss Everdeen’s (Jennifer Lawrence) story begins in The Hunger Games. It takes place during the Second Quarter Quell, a term for the Hunger Games having a twist every 25 years. This one doubles the tributes from each District to 48 total. It’s also the 50th Hunger Games all together. If that sounds familiar, it’s because those Games were briefly introduced by Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) in both the book and movie of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013). The sequel in the original trilogy sees Katniss and Peeta compete in the Third Quarter Quell and the 75th Hunger Games overall, where the tributes are chosen from past winners. Haymitch was among them and chosen, but Peeta volunteered as tribute.
Haymitch won those Games—the sole survivor of a historic number of tributes. Sunrise on the Reaping follows him before those games, throughout them, and in the aftermath. This story takes what little information Catching Fire reveals about the Second Quarter Quell and pulls back the curtain to the truth. The movie, like the book, will feature a number of characters who appear later in the original trilogy. Of course, Joseph Zada takes the reins as a younger Haymitch. He is reaped for the Second Quarter Quell on his sixteenth birthday.
Meanwhile, Ralph Fiennes will play President Snow. He follows Tom Blyth who played a young Coriolanus Snow in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, taking place 64 years before The Hunger Games. So, Sunrise on the Reaping picks up with Snow 40 years after the first prequel movie (and book). The other returning characters in Sunrise on the Reaping include Plutarch Heavensbee (Jesse Plemons), Wiress (Maya Hawke), Ceasar Flickerman (Kieran Culkin), Mags (Lili Taylor), Effie Trinket (Elle Fanning), Beetee (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), Burdock Everdeen (Scot Greenan), Asterid Everdeen (Grace Ackary), and Maysilee Donner (Mckenna Grace).
Maysilee stands out from those characters because she is not present in the original trilogy, only mentioned by Katniss’s mother, Asterid. Maysilee is also the original owner of Katniss’s Mockingjay pin, which extends her presence back to The Hunger Games. In Sunrise on the Reaping, she is one of the four tributes from District 12. There are also many, many new characters, like Lenore Dove Baird (Whitney Peak), who change everything in their own ways.
As much as this prequel is important to understanding how and why Haymitch is who he is in the original trilogy, it’s equally important in understanding so many of the other characters that fans, myself included, have come to know and love (or hate, in Snow’s case). Sunrise on the Reaping fills in an imperative chapter for the characters and also the world of Panem—its Districts and its Capitol. It provides context and history that create a new way to look at The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015).
