Lionsgate dropped a trailer for its upcoming film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest installment in the author’s Hunger Games series of young-adult dystopian novels.
Collins’ bestselling novel, published last year by Scholastic, is a prequel to the first Hunger Games novel. It follows Haymitch Abernathy, a 16-year-old boy in the fictional land of Panem who is chosen as a tribute in the 50th edition of the games, in which children are forced to fight in a battle royale to the death. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the novel “a heartbreaking crescendo and another grimly irresistible chapter in the saga of this interlocking series.”
The film adaptation is directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Billy Ray. It stars Joseph Zada as Haymitch, with other cast members including Mckenna Grace, Ben Wang, Jesse Plemons, Ralph Fiennes, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, and Whitney Peak.
The trailer, set to the Who’s “Love, Reign O’er Me,” opens with Fiennes as Coriolanus Snow, the president of Panem, telling Zada, “Haymitch Abernathy. I bet I know a thing or two about you. You love her, and she loves you. But now, you are on your own.”
Later, Culkin as Hunger Games host Caesar Flickerman, tells a crowd, “Welcome to the second Quarter Quell!” It then cuts to Close as chaperone Drusilla Sickle saying, “You have no idea what’s in store for you. Twice the number of tributes, twice the glory.”
The trailer closes with Fiennes echoing a famous line from the books, saying, “And may the odds be…” He then gives a slight smirk and shrug.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is set for release on Nov. 20.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
