The Hunger Games Is Coming Back
The Hunger Games could be returning in a brand new form.
For fans who are truly hungry for more of The Hunger Games franchise, your prayers have been answered, though it may not be in the form you were all expecting. According to Patreon insider Daniel Richtman, The Hunger Games will be coming back, but this time in the form of a TV series. Whether this is true or not is definitely up for debate, as Richtman offers no solid proof other than what he’s heard. But if it were to be true, just what would a Hunger Games TV series look like?
The Hunger Games franchise began back in 2012 and starred a just-coming-into-her-own Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence had made a name for herself as Mystique in X-Men: First Class when she also took on the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, which was based on the novel by Suzanne Collins. Lawrence followed that up with 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 2014’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, and finally 2015’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. All of these were based on the continuing Collins’ novels of the same names.
Along with Lawrence, the movies starred Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, and Stanley Tucci. It would be hard-pressed to see this cast come together for a TV series, so if Richtman were to be correct on his rumor of a possible TV series, don’t expect this cast to return to their respective roles. A new cast would more than likely need to be found.
Another thing that makes this rumor more than questionable is the fact that in April of 2020, Lionsgate announced that it was taking Collins’ The Hunger Games prequel book, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and turning it into a feature film. Producers have already found the movie’s director in Francis Lawrence, who was on hand to direct The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.
At the time, Lawrence told Entertainment Weekly via Vanity Fair he’d be on board at any point in time to return to The Hunger Games world. “The interesting part of the story for me is to go back 75 years earlier and see how everything became the way it is,” Lawrence said in 2015. “I’m sure if Suzanne were to get inspired and decide there’s another story that’s important for her to tell that exists within the world of Panem and whether about the Dark Days, another character, or another set of Games, whatever that could be, I’m sure it would be great. And I’d loved to be involved, absolutely.” Thankfully Collins got inspired and out came her Hunger Games prequel novel. Also returning to the Hunger Games universe is franchise producer Nina Jacobson as well as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire screenwriter Michael Arndt.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes takes readers, and eventually viewers, back to the Dark Days, a period set ten years after the war when the country of Panem is struggling to regain its footing. It follows a young Coriolanus Snow, who is 18 years old in the novel and was portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the movies. At the present, no actor has been attached to the film. Seeing how closely the films followed Collins’ novels, readers can be assured the prequel will do the same.
Even though one should take Richtman’s Hunger Games TV series news with a grain of salt, it could be a fun way to explore Collins’ vision of the future as well as the continuing story of Katniss and Peeta.
