Hunger Games Star Finally Breaks Silence on Returning for ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’

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Jennifer Lawrence just sent the Hunger Games fandom into full meltdown mode. While appearing on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Oscar winner was asked about possibly reuniting with her old castmates ahead of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, and instead of shutting it down, she very much… didn’t.

Horowitz mentioned that director Francis Lawrence was directing a new movie — “Francis Lawrence is directing a new Hunger Games movie, you guys should catch up, maybe.”

Lawrence responded: "Maybe we already have." Horowitz then added that's only if you believe everything on the internet.

“Oh, yeah. It is out on the internet, isn’t it?”

It’s not a formal announcement, but let’s be real: when someone who famously avoided franchise talk for years suddenly acknowledges the rumor mill, that’s doing a lot of heavy lifting. And now we finally know how Katniss could fit into the story.

How Is Katniss Everdeen in 'Sunrise on the Reaping'?

At first glance, Katniss Everdeen showing up in Sunrise on the Reaping sounds impossible. The movie is set 24 years before the first Hunger Games, during the brutal 50th Hunger Games — aka the Second Quarter Quell — which focuses on a young Haymitch Abernathy.

But Suzanne Collins already solved this. In the novel Sunrise on the Reaping, Katniss and Peeta appear in the epilogue, long after the rebellion has ended. They’re living in a quiet, post-Capitol world, listening as Haymitch tells them his story while they help write a book about the history of Panem.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping stars Joseph Zada as a young Haymitch Abernathy, with Ralph Fiennes playing President Coriolanus Snow, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket (in an utterly inspired fan casting come to life), Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow, Maya Hawke as Wiress, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee Latier, Lili Taylor as Mags Flanagan, Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, Molly McCann as Louella McCoy, Iona Bell as Lou Lou, and Lili Taylor returning as Mags. Alongside Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson is also set to reprise his role as Peeta in the epilogue.