Prequels to The Hunger Games in discussion at Lionsgate?

In news that will surprise absolutely no one, there are rumblings that Lionsgate (the studio behind the hit film series), obviously inspired by the hype of the Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) are very interested in pursuing a continuance of The Hunger Games film series in the form of a series of prequels. Because people always enjoy prequels.

Earlier this week, while speaking at an investors conference, Vice Chairman Michael Burns reportedly said that The Hunger Games will “live on and on and on.”

As previously mentioned, the fact that Lionsgate hope to continue the show will probably surprise no one, as the fourth film in the series, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 (2015) has already netted the studio $227 million in the US box office, and the series as a whole $2.5 billion worldwide, but what is surprising is the fact that, if Burns is to be believed, that any future films will concentrate on the Hunger Games themselves as opposed to expanding the world.

“The one thing that kids say they missed [from the early ‘Hunger Games’ films] was there was no arenas,” Burns reportedly told The Hollywood Reporter. “If we went backwards there obviously would be arenas.”

But comments made at an investor’s conference aside, Lionsgate has not officially announced any spin-offs from the franchise, and so at this point any comments in regards to the existence of prequels (and especially their plot) is naught but conjecture.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Francis Lawrence, who directed three of the four Hunger Games instalments (and is in no relation to Jennifer Lawrence, who played Katniss Everdeen in the series), has said: “The interesting part of the story for me is to go back 75 years earlier and see how everything became the way it is.”

It’s really hard to argue with him.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 is out now.