Jennifer Lawrence finally confirms 'Hunger Games' return with 'Sunrise on the Reaping' role

After nearly a year of speculation, Jennifer Lawrence has confirmed that she features in the upcoming Hunger Games movie, Sunrise on the Reaping .

The actor will reprise her role as Katniss Everdeen in the latest installment of the franchise, which is set for release in theaters next month, and will star alongside two other Hunger Games original cast members: Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy.

Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Lawrence called the experience "unbelievable" and "so emotional."

"Josh and I didn't walk to the bathroom without our arms around each other, it was so beautiful," she said.

The news of Lawrence and Hutcherson's return was reported by multiple outlets in December 2025, but wasn't officially confirmed until today — and neither actor appears in the movie's trailer .

Nothing is known about their roles; they're expected to be small and potentially appear in a flash-forward, Variety reported last year.

It has been three years since viewers last caught up with the citizens of Panem. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes , which did not feature Lawrence or Hutcherson, kicked off the prequel era, telling the story of what happened before Katniss and Peeta's Games. The Ballad movie rewound 64 years to follow a young Coriolanus Snow, and next up, it's Haymitch Abernathy's turn in Sunrise on the Reaping .

An adaptation of Suzanne Collins's bestselling book of the same name, Sunrise on the Reaping , in theaters Nov. 20, covers the 50th Hunger Games — the second Quarter Quell. In the movie, audiences will understand how Haymitch goes from an unwilling participant in the Games to the surly mentor that Katniss and Peeta meet nearly two and a half decades later. Up-and-coming actor Joseph Zada plays 16-year-old Haymitch.

Other key cast members include Ralph Fiennes as the third actor to play Snow, after Donald Sutherland and Tom Blyth, and Elle Fanning as a young Effie Trinket, a role previously held by Elizabeth Banks. Glenn Close, Maya Hawke, Jesse Plemons and Mckenna Grace also feature.