Brush up on your 'Hunger Games,' Haymitch knowledge for 'Sunrise on the Reaping'

There's nostalgia in the air this spring as readers gear up to revisit the “Hunger Games” universe.

With Suzanne Collins' new "Sunrise on the Reaping," longtime fans and new readers alike will get a taste of Panem’s past through the eyes of Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss and Peeta’s curmudgeonly mentor who won the Games 24 years before the pair stepped into the arena.

If “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay” gave more color and backstory to Haymitch, “Sunrise on the Reaping” is sure to be a cornucopia. The prequel will introduce his family and girlfriend and the events that led up to his victory, notorious for angering the Capitol elite.

When does the next ‘Hunger Games’ book come out?

“Sunrise on the Reaping” is out as of March 18 in print, digital and audio. “Yellowstone” actor Jefferson White will narrate the audiobook.

What is ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ about?

Set 24 years before the events of the first book, “Sunrise on the Reaping” begins on the morning of the 50th Hunger Games – the second Quarter Quell. The reaping is Panem's traditional process of randomly selecting tributes from each District to participate in the fatal Games.

The Quarter Quell is a special Games that occurs every 25 years. In Katniss and Peeta’s Quarter Quell in “Catching Fire” – the 75th – the amended rules forced only former victors to reenter the Games. In Haymitch’s Quarter Quell, the Gamemakers allowed twice the amount of tributes from each district.

In an excerpt from Chapter 1, Haymitch wakes up on reaping day, also his 16th birthday. Despite the looming terror of the afternoon, he focuses on spending the day “wasting time and being with (his) girl, Lenore Dove.”

“No point in worrying, I tell myself, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Haymitch narrates in the excerpt. “Like two Hunger Games in one. No way to control the outcome of the reaping or what follows it. So don’t feed the nightmares. Don’t let yourself panic. Don’t give the Capitol that. They’ve taken enough already.”

We also meet his 10-year-old brother, Sid, and his 35-year-old mother. His father died in a coal mine fire, reminiscent of Katniss’ dad, who also died in a mining accident. Haymitch lives in the Seam, the poorest neighborhood of District 12. And in an audio clip read by Collins, we meet Haymitch's girlfriend, Lenore Dove. She's described as smart and "quiet in public" but "sure can talk up a storm in private." In a conversation on the day of the reaping, Lenore muses about a world with no reaping, which Haymitch begrudgingly says he can't see happening.

When he’s chosen, Haymitch is sent to the Capitol alongside “a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck up girl in town.”

Fans can expect larger discussions of propaganda and the power of the ruling class in “Sunrise," Collins said, according to Scholastic: "With Sunrise on the Reaping, I was inspired by David Hume’s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, ‘the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.’ 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.”

The cover, which features a dueling songbird and snake above the spikes of a sun, represents a meaningful symbol to Haymitch in the novel, according to Scholastic VP, Publisher and Editorial Director David Levithan. The image explores “how conflicting forces can be connected by their common nature, the songbird and the snake springing from the same source," Levithan explained in a press release.

What we know about Haymitch from other ‘Hunger Games’ books

In "Catching Fire," Katniss rewatches old footage from the 50th Games. We know from the original trilogy that Haymitch was one of four tributes from District 12 sent to the 50th Hunger Games, including his eventual ally Maysilee Donner. Maysilee was the original owner of the mockingjay pin and a friend of Katniss' mother. Her niece and the mayor's daughter, Madge Undersee, gave Katniss the mockingjay pin in book one.

Haymitch won his game by using the arena’s force field to his advantage, which he discovers when he throws a rock off a ledge and it bounces back up to him. When it comes down to the final two tributes, Haymitch stands close to the forcefield and waits for his opponent to throw her axe. When he ducks, the axe bounces back against the field and kills her.

Haymitch’s clever move angered the Gamemakers, who never intended for the forcefield to be used as a weapon. In "Mockingjay," Haymitch tells Katniss that President Snow had his mother, younger brother and girlfriend killed in retribution.

When is the new ‘Hunger Games’ movie coming out?

Lionsgate is adapting “Sunrise on the Reaping” into a feature film, which will hit theaters on November 20, 2026. Casting has yet to be announced, and it's unclear whether Woody Harrelson, who played Haymitch in the original movies, will return as the older version of the character.

The latest “Hunger Games” movie was last year’s box office hit “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” starring Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth. The film franchise has raked in over $3 billion worldwide in collective ticket sales.

How many ‘Hunger Games’ books are there?

This will be the fifth book in the “Hunger Games” series, which first published 17 years ago from Scholastic. There are five “Hunger Games” movies out – one for each of the already-published books and two parts for “Mockingjay.” The sixth movie will be the “Sunrise on the Reaping” adaptation.

Here are all of the books in order:

1. “The Hunger Games” (2008)

2. “Catching Fire” (2009)

3. “Mockingjay” (2010)

4. “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” (2020)

5. “Sunrise on the Reaping” (2025)

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Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at [email protected]. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ is out now: Brush up on your ‘Hunger Games’