Unfortunately most fan conventions and gatherings have sadly been cancelled or postponed this year due to the pandemic. Even of fans and creators will not get to enjoy the con experience this year people can enjoy watching some online panels and interviews from the safety of their homes instead.

On October 10 the world was given an exclusive behind the scenes look at the Hunger Games franchise. Sydney Bucksbaum, from Entertainment Weekly, conducted an online interview over Zoom with publisher David Levithan, who published the Hunger Games book series, and producer Nina Jacobson, who was the producer of the Hunger Games movies.

Both Levithan and Jacobson discussed their first encounters with the Hunger Games series. Levithan describes how after finishing her Underland Chronicles series, author Suzanne Collins originally proposed the Hunger Games books to publishers. Jacobson explained how she worked to become the movie adaptations’ producer and the challenges of adapting the book into a movie. In particular Jacobson told a story about how actor Sam Claflin, who played Finnick, broke his hand during production, and how the production team had to work around his injury. She also spoke about the hardships and heartache surrounding the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Levithan and Jacobson also talked about the franchise’s future, specifically the series’ latest book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is a prequel revolving around the origins of the villainous character Coriolanus Snow. Jacobson revealed some new details about the prequel’s upcoming movie adaptation.