A Hunger Games prequel novel is set for a 2020 release

Suzanne Collins isn't finished with the world of The Hunger Games just yet.

After publishing the ostensibly final book in the bestselling young adult series in 2010, Collins is set to release a Hunger Games prequel novel in May 2020, The Associated Press reports.

This prequel will be set 64 years before the original novel, which takes place in a dystopian society in which representatives from 12 districts must battle to the death in the yearly Hunger Games. Collins says it will depict events following the "Dark Days," the time after a failed Panem rebellion.

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"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."

Lionsgate from 2012 through 2015 adapted Collins' first three Hunger Games books into four feature films, which collectively grossed nearly $1.5 billion at the domestic box office — although the final installment was the series' lowest-grossing entry. In the years following that finale, Lionsgate expressed interest in more Hunger Games and Twilight movies, with the studio's CEO, Jon Feltheimer, saying in 2017, "There are a lot more stories to be told, and we're ready to tell them when our creators are ready to tell those stories."

Now that Collins is ready, the studio evidently has plans for a movie based on the 2020 novel, with Lionsgate chair Joe Drake telling AP in a statement that "we've been communicating with [Collins] during the writing process and we look forward to continuing to work closely with her on the movie."