The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping's first teaser promises Midsommar aesthetics, Haymitch's backstory, and a really weird David Bowie reference

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping - Official Teaser - YouTube

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The first teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping has arrived and it promises more chaos and carnage from the murderous tournament – this time with what feels like a folk horror twist.

In the teaser, we get a good look at the contestants for the 50th annual Hunger Games, including Joseph Zada who stars as the young Haymitch Abernathy – Woody Harrelson's character in the original movies. Yes, this is the story of how Haymitch competed in and survived the games in a particularly blood-thirsty year with twice the usual number of "Tributes" forced to compete.

Also seen are Haymitch's fellow competitors, including Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Karate Kid: Legends star Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow, and Percy Daggs IV as Ampert Latier. We also get brief shots of Ralph Fiennes as President Coriolanus Snow – stepping in for the late Donald Sutherland in the role – and Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, a role originally played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The new film, which is directed by franchise mainstay Francis Lawrence, appears to be opting for a different visual style to previous instalments: a Midsommar-influenced folk horror aesthetic with sunny blue skies and fields of brightly-colored flowers standing in contrast to the starker look of 2023's The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

The trailer's opening scene is also particularly interesting. We see Drusilla Sickle (Glenn Close) wheeled out by two aides who lift her to the microphone to speak to the assembled crowds before the selecting of Tributes for the games.

In Suzanne Collins' novel (released earlier this year, with the movie greenlit even before its publication) Drusilla is described as "a plastic-faced woman" with "a line of what look like fancy thumbtacks encircling her face, and pulling her skin back and pinning it in place." What's fun, if surprising, is that this scene seems to be deliberately referencing an iconic performance by none other than David Bowie...

Introduced by actor Martin Sheen, Bowie performed his classic song, 'The Man Who Sold the World' on Saturday Night Live in 1979, accompanied by the performance artists Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias. The song begins with Nomi and Arias bringing Bowie out in a rigid black suit that has a very similar silhouette to the bright yellow one worn by Glenn Close in the new film. He is then lifted up to the mic in a way that is also echoed in the trailer as Drusilla is escorted to the microphone. You can watch Bowie's performance for here and decide for yourself if we're just imagining this.

It's a peculiar choice, but an interesting one that feels fitting for a film that seems to be looking to bring new aesthetic inspirations to the now veteran franchise.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will be released into theaters on November 20, 2026. For more great films, check out our guide to the best sci-fi movies.