Yeah, you read right. There’s going to be a Hunger Games prequel!
The Hunger Games trilogy came out in 2008, which was an entire 11 years ago. Feel old yet? Because I def still think 2008 was five years ago.
Hunger Games took the world by storm, making dystopian fiction hugely popular and turning it into an entirely separate genre of teen fiction.
Now, almost a decade later, Suzanne Collins is writing a prequel to Hunger Games, set 64 years before the original trilogy. Here’s the facts, plus what we reckon it’ll be about.
Facts About The New Hunger Games Prequel
- It’s set 64 years before the original Hunger Games trilogy.
- It’s based around the reconstruction period after the war, called the ‘Dark Days’.
- It begins on the morning of the reaping for the tenth Hunger Games.
- The book doesn’t have a title yet and is being referred to as the “Untitled Panem Novel.”
- Lionsgate is down to make a movie.
Now, for the good stuff: fan speculation.
What We Reckon Will Happen
Okay, let’s look at the timeline. It’s set ten years into the actual Hunger Games. At first, I was a bit disappointed that it’s going to be set after the First Rebellions, which were the civil wars between the Capitol and the districts. Getting a story about what it was like in those wars would have expanded heaps on Hunger Games lore, which is already pretty rich.
But TBH I see why Suzanne Collins decided not to go there. It would probs make the prequel really similar to Mockingjay, and we don’t need to pull a Star Wars and re-do the same plot a million times. So, instead it’s going to be set in the Dark Days, where the districts were trying to pick themselves up after losing to the Capitol. It’ll obvs still be very political (yay!), and I reckon it’ll be more brutal too. Being so soon after mass rebellion, I wouldn’t be surprised if they make it more violent and controlling than in the trilogy.
What I’m most excited for though, is the history of District 13. It was created secretly during the Dark Days, and I’m 100% sure that the books will focus on it’s conception and growth. Plus, Coin and Snow were both alive during this timeline, meaning we might get some insight into how their characters became who they are. I especially would love some history on Snow – his character was truly fucked up and we didn’t get to know that much about why.
What We Kinda Already Knew
Suzanne Collins said in a statement that ““With this book, I wanted to explore the state of nature, who we are, and what we perceive is required for our survival. The reconstruction period ten years after the war, commonly referred to as the Dark Days—as the country of Panem struggles back to its feet—provides fertile ground for characters to grapple with these questions and thereby define their views of humanity.”
None of this is really that new because I mean, Hunger Games was also about survival and humanity. Like, are we forgetting that ending with Prim getting sacrificed in a bomb attack that was meant to kill the enemy? The original series raised heaps of moral questions around sacrifice and ‘the greater good.’ I’m hoping this new series will approach morals and humanity from an angle we haven’t seen before. Especially since this is pre-rebellion rather than post, there’s lots of space for creativity.
The more I talk about it, the more I’m getting myself worked up and excited about this new book. Let’s just hope it’s not a Cursed Child kinda deal where all canon is just thrown out as a cash cow. Suzanne, don’t be a Rowling please.
Sources: GIPHY, Lionsgate.
