For months, fans of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games franchise have been highly anticipating the release of her new prequel novel, Sunrise on the Reaping. Scheduled for release on March 18, 2025, Sunrise on the Reaping will revolve around the events of the 50th Hunger Games—also known as the Second Quarter Quell. A Quarter Quell is different from a typical Hunger Games year, as the quarter-century anniversary of the Capital’s defeat of the district’s often features particularly cruel or challenging twists—this time demanding double the amount of tributes.

Fans of the Hunger Games novels know that the 50th Quarter Quell is in fact the year that Katniss’ mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, won his games—but his victory is a tragic one. Catching Fire gives readers a glimpse into Haymitch’s games, but the first true look into Haymitch’s story can be seen in the Sunrise on the Reaping excerpt published in People Magazine. While it was already known Sunrise on the Reaping would be a devastating read, one key detail from the excerpt proves it will be much worse than readers had anticipated.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping Excerpt Reveals Reaping Day Is Haymitch’s Birthday

This Makes His Reaping So Much More Tragic

In the Sunrise on the Reaping excerpt, the story begins the day of the reaping—very similar to the first Hunger Games novel. However, the day of the reaping is also revealed to be Haymitch’s birthday—adding a new layer of tragedy to his whole experience. Waking on his sixteenth birthday, the excerpt describes Haymitch’s reluctance to celebrate, even while his younger brother tries his best to make the day jovial. But Haymitch explains his birthday is shadowed with dread—as he’ll either grapple with the terror of being reaped, or left to celebrate after two others have been sent to their deaths.

It’s clear that his birthday being on reaping day has made it hard for him to find ways to enjoy it in the past, which makes knowing he will in fact be reaped and forced into the 50th Hunger Games in the new Sunrise on the Reaping prequel all the more depressing. Haymitch’s birthday, from this day forward, will be linked to the memory of his own horrible Hunger Games experience and will likely remind him of all he lost with his own Quarter Quell victory.

This New Book Detail Makes Haymitch’s Reaping In The Hunger Games Prequel Much Worse

Haymitch’s Behavior On Reaping Day Makes More Sense In Hindsight

The horrors of the Hunger Games reaping already weighed heavily on the children of District Twelve, but having a birthday on such a terrible day makes it even worse. Not only did Haymitch wake up every year expecting his death, or the death of a friend or loved one, but now his birthday will forever be steeped in the horrific memories of his games. Sunrise on the Reaping was already expected to portray the tragic story of Haymitch’s victory, but Collins’ addition of his birthday to the narrative was seemingly to add another avenue of trauma in his character.

Haymitch likely already had a bleak outlook on life growing up in the seam—District Twelve’s poorest community. But his birthday adds even more context to his character and his increasingly cynical behavior in later novels. Haymitch’s birthday will always be forever linked to the day two children would be reaped and sent to their deaths—and the fact that he himself was reaped at such a young age, and on his birthday, likely had a big impact on his mental health. This could also explain why Haymitch succumbed to an alcohol dependency in the years after his games.

This Opening Sets Sunrise On The Reaping To Be The Bleakest Hunger Games Book Yet

Haymitch’s Story Does Not Have A Happy Ending

Earlier books in the Hunger Games franchise have briefly explained Haymitch’s tragic past, so Sunrise on the Reaping was already expected to be pretty dark—especially knowing his games are referred to as the bloodiest Hunger Games in history. However, the inclusion of Haymitch’s birthday in the narrative just proves his story will be a dark one from beginning to end. As this is a prequel to Suzanne Collin’s bestselling series, the story can only develop over a certain period of time, and sadly, Haymitch’s ending will always come to the same tragic conclusion.

In Catching Fire, readers learn that the manner in which Haymitch won his games was seen as an act of defiance—and so, by the time Haymitch returns home from his victory, the Capital has already killed his family and his girlfriend as punishment. Everything Haymitch fought to live for was taken from him after his Hunger Games victory, and it’s not for another 24 years that he will find something else to live for. Instead, as The Hunger Games book shows, Haymitch will have to wake up every year on his birthday and watch who else will be selected to die next in the twisted games.