The classic Hunger Games character Haymitch Abernathy will finally have his backstory told in the upcoming book Sunrise on the Reaping.
Almost 24 years after his own Hunger Games, Haymitch strategically guided Katniss through the arena, and to her victory. The prequel novel is set to be released on March 18. However, for movie fans, it won’t come out in theaters until November 2026.
Haymitch was a tribute for the Hunger Games during the Quarter Quell, the fiftieth annual Hunger Games. The capital decided to commemorate the anniversary by selecting twice as many tributes to be taken from their homes.
This new book will display how Haymitch won this twice-as-deadly Hunger Games, and lived to become Katniss’s mentor. During the original trilogy, Haymitch clearly held traumatic memories that caused him to become an alcoholic. However, he puts this aside in order to help Peeta and Katniss survive.
He not only helps them through the arena terrain, but secures sponsorships for her through his connections, and teaches them to navigate the political game of the capital. He even encouraged them to portray a romantic relationship to gain capital support and sympathy. For many Hunger Games fans, it has been a mystery as to how Haymitch became such an expert mentor, being the only surviving tribute ever from district 12, but this will be addressed in the new book.
Haymitch even gave Katniss the telltale mockingjay pin that is so representative of the Hunger Games trilogy. This was given to him from a girl he allied with during the Quarter Quell, whom we will meet in Sunrise on the Reaping. This book will explore the complexities of Haymitch’s character, his backstory, and how that shaped him into the mentor Hunger Games were introduced to.
Sunrise on the Reaping was called “addictive,” by Stephan King in Entertainment Weekly. It was also described by John Green as, “brilliantly plotted and perfectly placed.”
