Mockingjay Part II: The First Last Trailer?

The trailer itself was a series of nonverbal appearances of characters like the glamorous Effie, punctuated with explosions and narrated by Katniss Everdeen in her efforts to bring the districts together to fight under the banner of Unity. Director Francis Lawrence favors a uniformity of Panem over the description in the books, but the idea that the pastel paving stones of the Capitol are the indicators of the lavish sugar-coma life of the citizens was too good to pass up. And yet, we see grey, grey, grey, a bit of green grass, and more grey. The trailer was not disappointing but, dare I say it, it was underwhelming. “Is this really the first trailer for the last Hunger Games movie I’ll ever see?” I asked myself as I pushed the play button.

But maybe it won’t be, after all.

As an avid fan of the series, I stuffed myself silly with the rumors going around about the cast, the direction in which Lawrence was taking the films, and the possibilities of later films in the franchise. Wait–what?

Reports emerged in early February of this year of Lionsgate actively seeking to expand the franchise by adding prequels and sequels to the Hunger Games movies. Perhaps they were going to tackle the disruption of the first rebellion and The Dark Days and Snow’s rise to power. In a sequel, we might see Katniss and the other survivors dealing with day-to-day life without a dictator raining down fire and roses from the sky.

Francis Lawrence told MTV in November that he was open to the idea of more films in Panem and in February, according to Deadline, even Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer was reported to have been looking at the possibility of continuing our journey in Panem.

The Hunger Games team has already followed in the footsteps of other famous franchises (Harry Potter and Twilight come to mind) by taking the final book and splitting it into two parts. Hollywood has a tendency to take a good thing and wring it dry (I’m looking at you, Pirates of the Caribbean).

Although I adore the series, despite my love/hate relationship with Katniss Everdeen, the idea of more films doesn’t sit well with me. Suzanne Collins wrote the epilogue of her trilogy to welcome the idea of a continuation even though she wrapped up her loose ends into a nice little package. Shouldn’t the reader just be able to do that themselves? I’ve seen and read many clever fanfictions that follow Katniss, Haymitch, and Peeta after the end of the second rebellion. While Collins’ ending left might have left some readers wanting more, I was perfectly happy closing the book and leaving the characters where they were on the last page. This may just be the only thing that holds Lionsgate and Lawrence back: Collins hasn’t given her blessing. She was heavily involved in the other films and has made no comment in writing more material.

What do you think, Hunger Games fans? Is the epilogue at sunrise the best way to end the series or do you think it would be exciting to see more of Panem?