*UPDATE*
I've included a new image from the film which shows Finnick and Katniss getting close in the weapons room.*
We're still eleven months away from
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, but
EW is getting a jump on the hype a little early with their latest issue. The cover features our first looks at Jennifer Lawrence and Sam Claflin all decked out and ready to fight as Katniss Everdeen and the popular Finnick Odair.
Following up on the nearly $700M haul of the first film isn't going to be easy, especially with Francis Lawrence taking over for Gary Ross as director. But it does feature a script by Michael Arndt(
Toy Story 3), and new additions such as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, and Jena Malone ensure their won't be any drop off on the dramatic front. The bigger question is how they plan on tackling the story, which at this point on takes a detour from the kid-on-kid violence of the first film, and goes into more political territory. There's still plenty of action, to be sure, but the central love story takes more of a precedent. It takes place shortly after the 74th Hunger Games, with Peeta(Josh Hutcherson) and Katniss taken from their families and set on a "Victory Tour" around the Districts. The vindictive President Snow(Donald Sutherland) hasn't forgotten what they did, and orchestrates their return to the battlefield in the 75th Hunger Games, known as the Quarter Quell.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens on November 22nd 2013.
