Entertainment
3 OG Hunger Games Stars Will Return For The New Movie
Jennifer Lawrence confirmed that she, Josh Hutcherson, and Woody Harrelson are reprising their roles.
Are you, are you, coming to the tree? Because Jennifer Lawrence is. On the Oct. 28 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, the actor officially confirmed that she and her Hunger Games co-stars Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson will return to the new prequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, after months of reports and speculation.
As The Hollywood Reporter first reported in December, Lawrence will reprise her iconic role as Katniss Everdeen, while Hutcherson steps back into Peeta Mellark’s shoes. Harrelson, whose character, Haymitch Abernathy, is the center of the new movie, will take the reins from his younger self, Joseph Zada, and reunite with his former District 12 mentees for a flash-forward epilogue.
Lawrence told host Alex Cooper that it was “unbelievable” being back on set with her former co-stars. “It was so crazy because it was the same crew,” she said. “It was the same camera guys, the same AD who I've worked with a million times too, ‘cause I love him. It was so emotional. Josh and I like didn’t walk to the bathroom without our arms around each other. It was so beautiful.”
Of course, Harrelson was operating in peak Harrelsen form. ”Woody obviously came through the window of my hotel room uninvited,” she said. “It wouldn’t be the same if he listened to boundaries and used a door.”
Despite all the love and nostalgia, it seems she missed one other key Hunger Games star. Liam Hemsworth doesn't reprise his role as Gale Hawthorne, which makes sense given how the original series ends, but Lawrence confessed she was still Team Gale in Katniss’ infamous love triangle between him and Peeta.
“I was Team Gale, even after he killed my sister,” she quipped, nodding to one of Gale’s military operations that inadvertently took the life of Katniss’ sister, Primrose, in the final Hunger Games book and movie.
Lawrence initially played coy about her grand return to the Hunger Games universe when Allure asked if she could tease anything about reprising her role. “Well, no, of course not,” she said, laughing awkwardly. “Maybe I’m not.” Clearly, the odds were in our favor this time.
