Josh Hutcherson has had a unique career, especially considering his starring role in the mᴀssive The Hunger Games film franchise. Based on The Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games movies had just about everything working in their favor. The novels were giant successes, surpᴀssing even Harry Potter in some sales metrics (via NYT). Not only did audiences love them, but so too did critics, with NPR ranking the series number 2 on its 2012 list of the best teen novels. Suffice to say, The Hunger Games movies had a lot of pressure on them.
Book-to-movie adaptations aren’t easy in the best of times, and in the 2000-2010s, magical and YA dystopian franchises were hit-and-miss, with series like Twilight gaining traction and others like Divergent faltering. Things could have gone wrong for The Hunger Games movies, but instead, things went impressively right. There’s a lot to celebrate about the four original films, including Josh Hutcherson. Hutcherson, whose career primarily consisted of family movies until 2012, found stardom with The Hunger Games, but it was a strange path to get there.
Josh Hutcherson Plays Peeta Mellark In The Hunger Games Franchise
Peeta Grounds Katniss And Reminds Her Of Home
Josh Hutcherson was announced as Peeta Mellark in April 2011, and it came as a bit of a surprise considering Hutcherson was not known for much beyond Bridge to Terabithia and Zathura (via LATimes). Peeta is the deuteragonist alongside Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in the four films and was reaped alongside Katniss for the 74th Games. He was a baker back in District 12 and harbored a crush on Katniss that was never fully reciprocated, in part because of the stress living in the District had on Katniss, and on everyone.
Peeta and Katniss pretend to fall in love at the end of the games and threaten to swallow poison together to rob the Capitol of its victor. The ploy works and both are announced winners, though Peeta is heartbroken when he realizes Katniss has faked her feelings towards him. Though he is still hurt, he continues to feign love for Katniss in front of the cameras to continue their front. When Peeta and Katniss are once again selected for the games, they hatch a successful escape with other tributes. However, Peeta is captured by the Capitol.
In the novels, Peeta has his leg amputated and replaced with a prosthetic, while in the films, Katniss manages to save his leg.
Tortured and with his mind altered by the Capitol, Peeta is used as a political tool to demoralize Katniss and hurt the rebellion. When he’s rescued, Peeta is almost completely brainwashed and prone to attacking others, particularly Katniss, as his memories of her have been replaced, and he thinks she’s a genetic Mutt that killed his family and destroyed District 12. Over the course of the two-part Mockingjay, Peeta slowly regains his memories, and in the flash-forward, he and Katniss have a kid together.
Hutcherson’s performance was roundly celebrated, and he was positioned as a breakout star.
He’s the most important character in The Hunger Games outside of Katniss, and maybe President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Peeta grounds Katniss and gives her hope that her life can eventually go back to normal. He represents the common people in Panem and shows what they’re actually fighting for: peace, equality, and safety. Hutcherson’s performance was roundly celebrated, and he was positioned as a breakout star. He even hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in 2013, a gig that often signifies a performer’s entrance into stardom.
Post-Hunger Games, Hutcherson’s Career Took An Unusual Path
Hutcherson Took On Smaller, Independent Roles After Hunger Games
With such a successful and acclaimed franchise under his belt, it was expected that Hutcherson would follow the usual action heartthrob path by appearing in more big studio movies, and ensuring his face was as publicly known as possible. Instead, Josh Hutcherson’s career took a different route. His post-Hunger Games career has been mostly in independent and lesser-known films, including some he took on while in the midst of his Hunger Games run. The Forger, The Disaster Artist, Future Man, and Burn are all lesser-known productions that nonetheless showcase Hutcherson’s talent.
It appeared that Hutcherson was content with playing supporting roles in interesting films, never pigeonholing himself in one archetype. It wasn’t until 2023 that Hutcherson made his return to franchise fare, with his starring role in Five Nights at Freddy’s as Mike Schmidt, a role he will be reprising in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, set for 2025. While it isn’t the traditional career path, it’s one that’s served some notable actors in similar positions well.
It ended up being the right choice for Hutcherson, who has been able to dabble in some really interesting projects while still consistently working.
Daniel Radcliffe post-Harry Potter, Robert Pattinson post-Twilight, and Hutcherson post-Hunger Games all decided to chase careers that offered more variety in their roles. It ended up being the right choice for Hutcherson, who has been able to dabble in some really interesting projects while still consistently working. Now, if he wants, he can reenter the franchise, studio-movie world, and it seems he hasn’t lost a step.
Hutcherson Has Fond Memories Of His Experience With Hunger Games
The Actor Is Proud Of What He Accomplished In The Films
Though his post-Hunger Games career seems like it could be in response to problems he had with the franchise, Josh Hutcherson has actually spoken glowingly about his time on set. He said (via TVInsider),
“When we were filming in Berlin — we were there for about a month — the whole cast and some of the crew was all staying in the same H๏τel. We had the whole H๏τel basically. You open your door and Jen’s running down the hall to pick up some food, or Woody [Harrelson]’s stuff is wafting out of his room. It just felt very much like a summer camp vibe. That was towards the end of the run. We were filming Mockingjay 1 and 2 at that point. We were all really close and it was a really good time.”
It was a good experience for Hutcherson, and he is still happy when people recognize him from the films, saying,
“I personally feel it when people recognize me and they’re fans of The Hunger Games, that’s always the reminder of like, ‘Oh yeah, you made those movies, and you were Peeta.’ I think for me, what’s really cool is to see it connect with such a broad audience, from younger to older [viewers]… I’m really happy that it’s now going to be streaming for free, which I think is really, really cool.”
When discussing the 2023 prequel film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Hutcherson said (via ET),
“I’ve heard it’s great. I’m really curious, ’cause the world of Hunger Games has obviously been really interesting to me for a long time. I mean that was one of the biggest moments of my entire life, was making those movies. It was really weird driving around and seeing Hunger Games billboards and feeling like I should be at a press junket… We need to have a reunion, it’s been too long.”
It was the work on Hunger Games that showed Hutcherson what kind of actor he wanted to be, and while he enjoyed it, he realized that these big projects do require some real introspection (via EW),
“It made me realize the kind of actor I wanted to be. The idea of doing big, big projects that make you even more well-known doesn’t sound as appetizing. If that opportunity came up again, I would have to think about it more.”
Now that the opportunity has presented itself again with Five Nights at Freddy’s, it seems that Hutcherson is ready to get back in the franchise acting ring.
Josh Hutcherson Would Return To The Hunger Games
He Would Only Do So If The Rest Of The Cast Is In
Five Nights at Freddy’s isn’t the only big franchise Josh Hutcherson would be willing to return to. Hutcherson said in response to being asked about coming back to The Hunger Games universe (via ScreenRant),
“Absolutely. Absolutely. Getting me and Jen, Liam, Woody, and Elizabeth (Banks). If we get the whole gang back together, I’m in 100%.”
Getting Peeta back would be one of the most important pieces of effectively producing a Hunger Games sequel, so the fact that he’s interested alone is a good sign. His caveat about ensuring his castmates are also there is telling and goes to show just how good of a time he had on the set of The Hunger Games. Josh Hutcherson may not have had the post-Hunger Games career many suspected he would, but the films still clearly hold a special place in his heart.
