Hunger Games prequel on the way as Lionsgate prepares to make another film

Fans are headed back to Panem. Set 64 years before the events of the Hunger Games movies, author Suzanne Collins has confirmed she’s writing a prequel.

The Hunger Games prequel is coming. Picture: The Hunger Games/Facebook

A decade after closing the book on her the Hunger Games saga, author Suzanne Collins is reviving her best-selling young adult franchise with a prequel set 64 years before the original action started.

“With this book, I wanted to explore the state of nature, who we are, and what we perceive is required for our survival,” Collins told the Associated Press.

“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.”

The Hunger Games trilogy was set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia in which young people fought each other to the death for the bloodthirsty pleasure of reality TV viewers.

It’s set before Katniss was born. Picture: AP/Lionsgate, Murray Close

The original books sold more than 65 million copies in the US alone and spawned a multibillion-dollar blockbuster film franchise starring Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence as arrow-slinging heroine Katniss Everdeen, as well as Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth.

Scholastic will release the still-untitled novel — which takes place a lifetime before Katniss was born — on May 19, 2020.

While a movie is yet to be green lit, Lionsgate chairman Joe Drake said the production company was in close communication with Collins during the writing process and all but said there would be a film.

“As the proud home of the Hunger Games movies, we can hardly wait for Suzanne’s next book to be published,” Mr Drake said in a statement.

“We’ve been communicating with her during the writing process and we look forward to continuing to work closely with her on the movie.”

Suzanne Collins is writing a prequel set 64 years before the beginning of her multi-million-selling trilogy, scheduled for release on May 19, 2020. Picture: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Scholastic representatives declined to comment on plot details but offered glowing praise for its author, according to the New York Post.

“Suzanne Collins is a master at combining brilliant storytelling, superb world building, breathtaking suspense, and social commentary,” Scholastic Trade Publishing President Ellie Berger said in a statement.

“We are absolutely thrilled — as both readers and publishers — to introduce the devoted fans of the series and a new audience to an entirely new perspective on this modern classic.”

This article was originally on the New York Post and has been republished with permission