Author Suzanne Collins is working on another book in The Hunger Games series.
But this book, which does not yet have an official title and is currently going by Untitled Panem Novel, won’t be following series protagonist Katniss Everdeen. Instead, it will be a prequel set 64 years before the events of Collins’ original trilogy of books—The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.
Here’s the announcement from the press release:
Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education and media company, today announced that it has acquired world English rights to a new novel in the worldwide bestselling The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Untitled Panem Novel (title not final) will revisit the world of Panem sixty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games. Untitled Panem Novel will be published simultaneously in print, digital and audio formats by Scholastic in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand on May 19, 2020. The deal was negotiated by Rosemary Stimola of the Stimola Literary Studio for Suzanne Collins and David Levithan, VP, Publisher and Editorial Director, for Scholastic.
“Suzanne Collins is a master at combining brilliant storytelling, superb world building, breathtaking suspense, and social commentary,” said Ellie Berger, President, Scholastic Trade. “We are absolutely thrilled””as both readers and publishers””to introduce the devoted fans of the series and a new audience to an entirely new perspective on this modern classic.”
On returning to the world of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins said, “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.”
It will also come as no surprise to anyone that a movie adaptation of the book is also already being talked about.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Drake released this statement in response to the announcement:
“As the proud home of the Hunger Games movies, we can hardly wait for Suzanne’s next book to be published. We’ve been communicating with her during the writing process and we look forward to continuing to work closely with her on the movie.”
Lionsgate’s four-film adaptation of the original trilogy of books, which starred Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, made nearly $3 billion at the box office. So obviously they’re chomping at the bit to get another one made, even if it doesn’t feature Lawrence as Katniss once again.
In fact, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate has talked about the possibility of doing a prequel at some point for a long time now, so this is just everything falling into place.
Even more exciting for fans of The Hunger Games, as you can see in the image below, the new book already has a release date to look forward to: May 19, 2020.
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