The YA adaptation movie craze has mostly passed now, but at its height The Hunger Games films were one of the biggest franchises out there. Released from 2012 to 2015, the four movies earned nearly $3 billion in total at the worldwide box office. It’s no surprise, then, that Lionsgate is working on a prequel now which will be coming our way in the next few years.
Today, Scholastic announced that author Suzanne Collins is writing a new prequel novel set in the world of The Hunger Games. It’ll take place 64 years prior to the events of the previous books and will begin on the morning of the reaping of the 10th Hunger Games in Panem. The novel is set to be released on May 19th, 2020.
Due to the popularity of the series, Lionsgate has been involved with the development of the book as well and the studio already has its eye on turning the novel into a new movie. Joe Drake, Chairman of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group told Deadline the following:
“As the proud home of the Hunger Games movies, we can hardly wait for Suzanne’s next book to be published. We’ve been communicating with her during the writing process and we look forward to continuing to work closely with her on the movie.”
Collins has always worked closely with the movie adaptations, serving as an EP and co-writer on the original film. The prequel novel will be the first entry in the saga since she published the third book Mockingjay – split into two for the big screen – in 2010, and here’s how she summed up her approach to the upcoming project:
“With this book, I wanted to explore the state of nature, who we are, and what we perceive is required for our survival. The reconstruction period ten years after the war, commonly referred to as the Dark Days—as the country of Panem struggles back to its feet—provides fertile ground for characters to grapple with these questions and thereby define their views of humanity.”
So, it sounds like we shouldn’t expect Jennifer Lawrence to return as Katniss Everdeen, but The Hunger Games will likely begin again in the very near future and we can’t wait to see what Lionsgate has in store.