TV remakes of popular movie series like Harry Potter and Twilight have recently been announced, which makes the same seem likely for The Hunger Games—but a reboot for this franchise could be more complicated. Book-to-film adaptations were all the rage in the first couple of decades of the 2000s, but it seems like TV and streaming series are the medium of tomorrow. This is great news for book fans since entire seasons dedicated to a single novel will mean more time to cover the finer details of a plot. The same would be true for The Hunger Games, but the time may not be right.
The news that the popular Harry Potter series would receive a ten-year-long TV reboot with HBO Max has opened the doors for other young-adult book-to-screen adaptations to follow suit. Shortly after this announcement, the Twilight movies were revealed to be receiving the same treatment. This news was met with mixed reviews from both sets of audiences. A TV series provides a new world of opportunities, but it can be hard to imagine new actors taking over these characters. This would undoubtedly be the case for The Hunger Games, which can only be assumed will be the next big announcement.
YA TV Show Remake Announcements Mean Hunger Games Is Next
Harry Potter and Twilight fall in the same category as The Hunger Games. Each came from popular young adult book series, whose film adaptations took the world by storm. Each film franchise made billions of dollars and has hardly fallen in popularity in the decade since they were concluded. This is likely why the Harry Potter and Twilight movies have been picked up to be adapted into TV series that will rake in even more cash. Therefore, having been cut from a similar cloth, it’s only a matter of time before a Hunger Games series is announced.
Of course, this would come with all its own challenges. The chief complaint from movie fans is that recasting characters such as Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the Harry Potter series and Bella, Edward, and Jacob from Twilight risks ruining the legacy of the beloved film series—and, by extension—their respective books. The Hunger Games would be the same since it’s hard to imagine Katniss Everdeen without picturing Jennifer Lawrence. Still, book fans know that there is a great deal from the books that the franchise’s four films missed out on and could therefore be included in a TV series.
A Hunger Games TV Series Could Include What The Movies Missed
The Hunger Games movies did relatively well at cramming in as much book information as possible. To make this work, the franchise was forced to split Mockingjay into two films. Even then, some aspects of Katniss’ story never made it to the screen. Some of this was just background information that helped build the characters surrounding Katniss, while others were important plot points that made things like the Girl on Fire’s assassination of President Coin make much more sense. It’s one of those situations where the movies were good, but the books were so much better because of the more rounded story.
If the Hunger Games movies were to be adapted into a TV series, there would be enough time to ensure that Katniss’ entire story makes it to the screen. If, as promised with the Harry Potter series, an entire season were to be dedicated to each book (with Mockingjay perhaps receiving two seasons), then Katniss’ fellow Hunger Games contestant could be fully explored, the famous love triangle between Peeta and Gale could be less rushed, and Katniss’ bittersweet victory could get the screen time it deserves. Of course, given that the Hunger Games franchise is still getting movie installments, it might not be the time.
Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Gives Hunger Games A Franchise Problem
Unlike the Harry Potter and Twilight series, the Hunger Games book series received another installment as recently as 2020 with the President Snow prequel novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. This story will receive a movie adaptation of the same name in November 2023, and it’s hard to say what sort of doors this will open for the franchise. If the film is a success, more Hunger Games projects could follow—whether in the form of a movie or TV series—and this could mean that the time for remaking the original series has not yet arrived.
Of course, the Wizarding World franchise was still actively putting out film installments in the form of the Fantastic Beasts series. Yet, Warner Bros decided to proceed with the HBO Max remake. This decision seems to be more of a direct response to the failures of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Therefore, whether a Hunger Games TV series were to become a reality depends on the performance of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. If the film does well, there may be other Panem stories to explore—but if it fails, the Hunger Games franchise could be saved by a reboot.
