First Reactions...'Sunrise on the Reaping' a Darker, Heavier Hunger Games

The next Hunger Games film had its first public test. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping held its London premiere Oct. 28 and attendees were permitted to post short first reactions online even though full critics' reviews are being held until closer to release. The early posts were specific in their praise about a darker tone and a story about the cost of rebellion. Comments also included a breakout performance by Joseph Zada as the young Haymitch Abernathy, originally played by Woody Harrelson.

Sunrise on the Reaping is the sixth film in Lionsgate's Hunger Games series and its second prequel, following The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023). It is directed by Francis Lawrence, who has directed every installment except the first film, from a screenplay by Billy Ray and Michael Lesslie. It adapts Suzanne Collins's novel of the same name, published in 2025.

The story is set 24 years before Katniss Everdeen's first Games. It follows 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy of District 12, played by Zada, as he is drawn into the 50th Hunger Games, known as the Second Quarter Quell. This Quell doubles the field: each district sends twice the usual number of tributes, for 48 young people in the arena instead of 24. Audiences who know the original trilogy already know the broad outcome; Haymitch survives and becomes the hardened mentor played by Woody Harrelson, which is why several early reactions frame the film's challenge as making a known ending feel tense anyway.

The cast around Zada is built largely from younger versions of familiar figures: Ralph Fiennes as President Coriolanus Snow, Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee (the role originated by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman), and Glenn Close as Drusilla Sickle, the District 12 escort. Kieran Culkin plays host Caesar Flickerman, Maya Hawke plays Wiress, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays Beetee. Mckenna Grace plays fellow District 12 tribute Maysilee Donner, and Whitney Peak plays Lenore Dove Baird, Haymitch's love interest.

What the first reactions actually said

Film critic Griffin Schiller called the film "the Rogue One/Andor of the franchise" and described it as "a sobering, yet powerful story of devastating loss and the necessary cost of rebellion." The comparison is about function, not plot: like those Star Wars stories, this is a prequel whose ending the audience already knows.

Zada's performance was the single most repeated point. Collider's Perri Nemiroff wrote that he "had my jaw on the floor time and time again" and that "so much of this movie is on his shoulders, and he soars." Schiller called Zada "a revelation," and Next Best Picture's Lauren LaMagna described his performance as heartbreakingly radiant. The Nerds of Color's Nikita Francois called the film "easily the best film in the Hunger Games franchise" and Zada "electrifying as Haymitch."

The supporting cast drew praise in the same posts. Next Best Picture editor-in-chief Matt Neglia wrote that the film "features some of the best casting of the year," singling out Close as a "scene-stealer" and Plemons as embodying "the spirit of the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman," while calling Zada "beyond impressive." Filmhounds' Gavin Spoors praised a "stellar" third act that "pulls the rug out underneath you" and wrote that the film was anchored by "terrific performances (Zada is a star)."

The returning trio

The premiere week also settled a long-running casting question. On the October 28 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Jennifer Lawrence confirmed that she returns as Katniss Everdeen in Sunrise on the Reaping, alongside Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark and Harrelson as the older Haymitch. Reports of their return had circulated since December 2025, but Lawrence had not confirmed it herself until now.

"It was so crazy because it was the same crew," Lawrence told host Alex Cooper. "It was the same camera guys, the same AD who I've worked with a million times too, because I love him. And Josh and Woody, and it was so emotional."

Radio Times reported that Lawrence's appearance is a cameo in a flash-forward, and that framing matters: the film's central story is Haymitch's, not Katniss's, and the size of the original cast's roles has not been disclosed by Lionsgate. The returning actors are a bridge to the story audiences know, not a second story running alongside Haymitch's.

Why the timing matters

Lionsgate put tickets on sale on October 28 at 9 a.m. ET, the same day as the London premiere, with early-access screenings scheduled for Wednesday, November 18, at 6 p.m. local time, two days before the wide release on Friday, November 20, 2026. The first-reaction window therefore arrived at the exact moment tickets became available, a standard studio strategy, but an unusually early one for a film still three weeks from release.

That expectation is also a risk. First reactions at a premiere are, by design, enthusiastic: the audience is invited, the atmosphere is celebratory, and the posts are short. Full reviews, arriving closer to November 20, will test whether the praise for Zada and the darker tone holds up under longer scrutiny, and whether viewers who have not read Collins's novel follow the story as easily as those who have. The early posts repeatedly praise the film as an adaptation. Schiller said he "couldn't have asked for a more perfect adaptation" as a fan of the book.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping premiere's Nov. 19.