The odds were in their favor! While some stars fall flat after their big breaks, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth have moved on from the Hunger Games franchise with success.
Based on author Suzanne Collins’ young adult books of the same name, 2012’s The Hunger Games, 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 2014’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 and 2015’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 blew up at the box office and became a constant topic of conversation in pop culture. The films follow a group of teens forced to battle for their lives in a dystopian world.
Lawrence (Katniss Everdeen), Hutcherson (Peeta Mellark), Hemsworth (Gale Hawthorne), Woody Harrelson (Haymitch Abernathy), Elizabeth Banks (Effie Trinket), Stanley Tucci (Caesar Flickerman) and Donald Sutherland (President Snow) made up the star-studded cast.
The costars quickly formed close bonds, especially the main trio. “The truth is, it was literally what everyone saw in all of our interviews together,” Hutcherson exclusively told Us Weekly in September 2020 of their friendship. “It was all of us being ridiculous children together, horsing around. I don’t know how we got any work done ever. I’m surprised the movies are good.”
The actor revealed that their connection remains, as they keep “in contact pretty closely” years after the franchise wrapped filming. “We always get together and see each other when we’re in the same place,” he explained. “There’s not a Hunger Games group chat. We’ve got a couple email threads that a few of us are on but we don’t have a group chat. I don’t think Woody has a cell phone so that makes it a little hard.”
Hutcherson, who “would love to play Peeta again” if given the chance, teased fans with a prediction about where his character would be in the present day. “It’s funny. ‘Cause we actually spitballed about [where the characters would end up] on set one day,” he recalled. “We were sort of talking about like … the Hunger Games and Peeta and Katniss are older and they have a kid and then the movie ends, but then what if we pick up the story and it’s like 10 years later and there’s a new rebellion that has to happen or something like that ended up.”
He added: “I’d like to hope and think that they are living happily and that the world is equal and lovely. But history is doomed to repeat itself. So I feel like there might be some more unrest that would come along.”
Scroll down to see where the cast of The Hunger Games is today.