Jennifer Lawrence Breaks Her Silence on ‘Emotional’ Reunion with Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson in New Hunger Games Prequel

NEED TO KNOW

• Jennifer Lawrence shared in a new interview that reuniting with Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson on the new Hunger Games movie was “emotional”
• The original cast members reunited 11 years after their last movie together, Mockingjay Part 2, hit theaters
• The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is set 24 years before the first film and arrives in theaters Nov. 20

Jennifer Lawrence is just as emotional as fans about returning to her beloved role as Katniss Everdeen in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping.

“Unbelievable,” she said of rejoining the franchise in the Oct. 28 episode of Call Her Daddy. “It was so emotional. Josh [Hutcherson] and I didn’t walk to the bathroom without our arms around each other. It was so beautiful.”

The actress, 36, is returning to The Hunger Games alongside Josh Hutcherson, who played Katniss’ love interest Peeta in the original series, and Woody Harrelson as their mentor Haymitch. The new movie is set 24 years before the first Hunger Games, as a young Haymitch, played by Joseph Zada, faces the first Quarter Quell, which enlists double the number of tributes to compete in the games to the death.

The three reunite on-screen for the first time since The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, after starring in the first four movies together between 2012 and 2015.

“It was so crazy because it was the same crew,” Lawrence said. “It was the same camera guys, the same AD who I’ve worked with a million times too because I love him, and Josh and Woody.”

Though over a decade has passed since they starred together, Lawrence said her dynamic with Hutcherson, 34, and Harrelson, 65, hadn’t changed at all.

“Woody obviously came through the window of my hotel room uninvited because it would not be the same if he listened to boundaries and used a door,” she said.

Deadline reported that Lawrence and Hutcherson would return to the franchise in December 2025, though Lionsgate, which produces the movies, did not comment at the time. The actors have also stayed mum about their roles in the film, which is the second prequel following 2023’s The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

In a January 2026 interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Lawrence demurred about her participation in the prequel. “Maybe we already have,” Lawrence replied coyly when host Josh Horowitz suggested she chat with director Francis Lawrence, who has directed all the Hunger Games movies since Catching Fire.

Just a day before Lawrence’s Call Her Daddy interview was published, she also avoided spoiling her cameo when Allure asked her in an Oct. 27 video if she could tease her return. “Well, no, of course not. Maybe I’m not,” she said.

Lawrence has previously spoken about her eagerness to pick up Katniss’ iconic bow and arrow again, telling Variety in a 2023 interview that she would “totally” do it should the opportunity arise.

“If Katniss could ever come back into my life, 100 percent,” she added.

In addition to Zada, 21, as Haymitch, and Mckenna Grace and Ben Wang as his fellow District 12 tributes, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping features an extremely starry cast including Ralph Fiennes, Kieran Culkin, Glenn Close and Elle Fanning, many of whom play the younger versions of characters introduced in the original series.

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