A decade after seemingly wrapping up “The
Hunger Games,” Suzanne Collins is bringing
readers back to Panem. A prequel, set 64 years
before the beginning of her multimillion-selling
trilogy, is coming next year.
The novel, currently untitled, is scheduled
for release on May 19, 2020. Collins said in a
statement that she would go back to the years
following the so-called “Dark Days,” the failed
rebellion in Panem. Collins set the “Hunger
Games” books in a post-apocalyptic dystopia
where young people must fight and kill each
other, on live television.
“With this book, I wanted to explore the state
of nature, who we are, and what we perceive
is required for our survival,” she said. “The
reconstruction period 10 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.”