I Just Finished Reading Sunrise On The Reaping, And There's One Direct Hunger Games Connection I Need The Movie To Make

As a longtime Hunger Games fan, Sunrise on the Reaping has been my most anticipated of the upcoming book-to-screen adaptations since it was announced (and all the SOTR casting news that even the lead actor is learning about as we are is only elevating that feeling). But, I’ll admit it took me some time to finish the book. Now, I’ve finally read Suzanne Collins’ new dystopian novel cover to cover, and I’m going to need something related to the original trilogy to happen in order to make it through seeing the book’s tragic ending on the big screen.

So, I Just Finished Sunrise On The Reaping, And I’m Not OK

I absolutely loved this installment of the Hunger Games books, but wow, does it end with an arrow through the heart. A young Haymitch hasn’t even processed watching a number of his friends die in the arena (including the particularly heartbreaking death of young Ampert) when he becomes the Quarter Quell victor. And once he returns home, things only get worse. First, he watches his childhood home burn to the ground while his Ma and brother Sid are inside the house.

But then here's the real kicker. He reunites with his love, Lenore Dove, after being worried and missing her during the whole game. They have one beautiful moment where they are back together and happy, but then Lenore takes a bite of a gumdrop that turns out to be laced with poison, courtesy of the Capitol, of course.

Haymitch watches her die, and lives with the guilt that he didn’t check them before allowing her to eat them. Sure, I’ll admit I’m morbidly excited to see how it’s translated for the movie, but my goodness, is the ending dark. I’m already bracing myself for a chilling Ralph Fiennes performance with the actor set to play a middle-aged President Snow.

So, considering all that, I'm going to need the movie to feature that epilogue scene too, which is where the direct Hunger Games connection comes in.

I’m Going To Need The Epilogue In Order To Cope With The Ending, And That Means Three Original Hunger Games Actors Need To Return

Thankfully, Collins included an epilogue in Sunrise on the Reaping that follows Haymitch closer to the age we initially got to know him as after the events of the original Hunger Games trilogy. He's gone through a lot of pain, but he's also seen the end of Panem’s violent tradition thanks to his mentee Katniss leading the rebellion as the Mockingjay. We learn he shares his story with Katniss and Peeta, and a day later, Katniss shows up at his door with Peeta and goose eggs so that he can keep them in memory of his lost love.

I honestly needed the levity of the epilogue in the book to help me recover from all the trauma Haymitch deals with as a teenager, and I absolutely need it to happen in the movie now as well.

This would mean Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson would need to come back to make a cameo at the end of the movie. And while there are some cameos that I don’t find necessary, I think seeing this scene in the movie would allow audiences to experience the levity the book's epilogue provides. Audiences would get to feel Haymitch’s full-circle journey of how his intense experiences ultimately were not for nothing, while ultimately helping tie up Sunrise on the Reaping as a story.

I don't expect Lionsgate to announce this publicly, but now I'm counting on it. Lawrence, Harrelson and Hutcherson seem to love each other so much that it would have to be a no-brainer, and how cool would it be to see them back together again as their iconic characters?! Either way, the movie doesn't come out until November 20, 2026, and it'll take that long for me to emotionally prepare.