Rachel Zegler confirmed on Tuesday that she will not appear in the upcoming Hunger Games movie. Zegler sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with Jack Antonoff published by Cosmopolitan, and they touched on Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping toward the end of the interview. Zegler said: “I would die at the chance to come back as Lucy Gray Baird, but I am not included.”
Zegler played the heroic Lucy Gray Baird in last year’s The Hunger Games: The Balad of Songbirds and Snakes. That was a prequel Collins published in 2020, and was quickly turned around by Lionsgate. This time around, they’re moving even faster – Collins’ new book Sunrise on the Reaping is not even out yet, but production on the film adaptation began back in June. The novel is slated for release on March 18, 2025, while the movie is scheduled for Nov. 20, 2026.
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If Zegler is being honest about her involvement in this second prequel, it will be a huge shock to fans. The ending of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes left Lucy’s fate unclear – both on screen and on the page. If she does not appear in the next book or movie, it may leave some fans unsatisfied. On the other hand, it could be a good thing for the whole franchise. If Lucy lived on to become a prominent folk hero, it would be odd that we didn’t hear about her in The Hunger Games trilogy. Collins may be minimizing the character’s role in her history to avoid inconsistencies.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set 64 years before The Hunger Games, and in addition to Lucy, its main character is a young Coriolanus Snow – played in the movie by Tom Blyth. It depicts Snow facing moral dilemmas and becoming more and more corrupted by the dystopian world he lives in. All the while, the audience knows he will become president, and how his story will end in Collins’ original trilogy.
Sunrise on the Reaping will pick up 40 years after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – so, 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games. According to the publisher’s official synopsis, it will depict the 50th annual Hunger Games, in which Haymitch Abernathy competes. It says: “This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves. When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break.”
Sunrise on the Reaping will be published on March 18, 2025 by Scholastic, while the film adaptation will premiere on Nov. 20, 2026. Fans can catch Zegler now on Broadway in a production of Romeo & Juliet. Her next movie appearance will be in the animated Netflix original film Spellbound, which drops on Nov. 22, 2024 in the U.S.