Director Francis Lawrence addresses the uncertain future of The Hunger Games franchise, explaining why the franchise isn’t rushing to create new productions despite its recent successes. The movie series is based on Suzanna Collins’s young adult dystopia novel series centered on a young District 12 tribute, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), inspiring a revolution in a twisted, totalitarian version of North America known as Panem. While the author’s main trilogy was adapted into four films that were released from 2012 to 2015, the prequel novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was adapted into a movie and released in 2023.
In a recent interview with PopCulture.com, Lawrence explained why the series isn’t rushing to release more projects set within the Hunger Games world. While the director is open to returning to the world in either film or television, he is hesitant to do so without Collins’ involvement, due to her writing focusing on a theme that provides enrichment to the world, as opposed to making one for the sake of it. Check out Lawrence’s full response below:
“It is tricky. I would never say that it’s an impossibility. I think that Nina [Jacobson], the producer, and I have both said that we would never do anything that wasn’t created by Suzanne.
That doesn’t mean it has to be a book, but part of what attracts us is that Suzanne writes when she finds something she thinks is relevant thematically, and she bases everything on that. And you always have this thematic foundation to these stories. The truth is, if you just run off and decide, ‘Oh, we’re going to do the Haymitch Games,’ for the sake of the Haymitch Games, because people like the character, it doesn’t have the thematic relevance that grounds it in the world and gives it a reason to exist.
Having said that, if she came up with an idea for, I don’t know, a limited series or something that had a reason to exist, that’s a possibility, but she’d have to come up with it.”
How Likely Are Future Hunger Games Projects?
With Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes being a financial success, Lionsgate could have capitalized on The Hunger Games by announcing more projects. Not only does the series have plenty of unexplored periods and events, including the civil war that led to Panem’s foundation, but there is keen interest in seeing how Finnick (Sam Claflin), Johanna (Jena Malone), and Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) won their respective Hunger Games. Furthermore, Lionsgate is already rebooting Twilight for television, so a Hunger Games television adaptation wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility.
The Hunger Games Franchise’s Complete Timeline Explained
The Hunger Games franchise contains five movies, and their timeline spans decades, capturing the early iterations of the Games and their eventual end.
However, with Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson not keen on pressing forward without Collins’ input, the franchise’s future rests on the shoulders of the original author. Currently, Collins has no plans to write more Hunger Games novels, though Jacobson believes it is only a matter of time until the author returns to the world. Furthermore, Collins’s early career began with television in the 1990s, giving her the experience of writing for on-screen media and showing that a new tale doesn’t necessarily have to start as a novel.
While Lawrence’s response may be somewhat disheartening, he gives hope for the Hunger Games franchise. Not only is it clear the creatives behind the franchise are set on ensuring each entry feels fulfilling, but they can also help the series escape any potentially dreaded modern Hollywood franchise fatigue. As such, while viewers may have to wait to return to Panem, it is clear that the franchise may not lie dormant for too long.
The Hunger Games
- Created by
- Suzanne Collins
- First Film
- The Hunger Games
- Cast
- Jennifer Lawrence , Josh Hutcherson , Liam Hemsworth , Elizabeth Banks , Woody Harrelson , Stanley Tucci , Donald Sutherland , Lenny Kravitz , Willow Shields , Phillip Seymour Hoffman , Rachel Zegler , Tom Blyth , Viola Davis , Peter Dinklage , Hunter Schafer , Jason Schwartzman
