Sam Claflin Wants To Return To The Hunger Games Universe - But There's One Issue

The original "Hunger Games" films, based on the novel trilogy by Suzanne Collins, are firmly in our rearview mirror, but the franchise returned to the big screen in 2023 with the buzzy prequel "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes." So will we get more prequels about previous Games, and will any original actors return? For his part, Sam Claflin, who played the handsome District 4 victor Finnick Odair in every "Hunger Games" film but the first one, would love to come back for a new project. That said, he's worried he may have aged out of the part.

While attending the Emmys to support his nominated Amazon miniseries "Daisy Jones & The Six," Claflin spoke to Variety's Marc Malkin on the red carpet about "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" — which he praised during the interview — and revealed that he would definitely go back to the dystopian universe, except for one problem. "I don't know if there's room for me to go back," Claflin admitted. "I'm too old now." 

"I've heard rumors that people are asking for a Finnick prequel, and all I'm gonna say is that I would be all in for Finnick's dad," the star concluded, presenting a solid solution to the potential issue.

Ever since "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" hit theaters in November 2023 and told the story of the 10th Hunger Games, fans have been speculating about other stories from the history of the vicious Games. Just as a reminder, the idea behind the Hunger Games is that each district of Panem — believed to be a restructured, dystopian version of North America — sends two "tributes" to the powerful Capitol in the form of two children, and those 24 children fight to the death until one victor emerges.

Finnick meets the series protagonist, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), during the 75th anniversary of the Games, known as the third "Quarter Quell," which means special rules are in place. (This time, only previous victors will be reaped and placed in the arena.) As fans know, Katniss' mentor, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), triumphed during the second Quarter Quell, which featured double the number of tributes. As for Finnick, he won his Games at the tender age of 14. Naturally, there's some curiosity about these games.

As Francis Lawrence — who directed all of the films except the first, which was helmed by Gary Ross — told Entertainment Weekly, he's game to make more films. "If Suzanne has another thematic idea that she feels fits into the world of Panem — whether that's with new people [or] familiar characters [like] Finnick, Haymitch, whoever — I'd be really interested in looking at it and being a part of it," he said. "But I don't have any pull of just going, 'I would love to do Finnick's games.' He's a great character, but what's the thematic underpinnings that make it worth telling and relevant?"

Fans are also well aware that if Sam Claflin's character, Finnick Odair, ever returned to the big screen in a new "Hunger Games" film, it would have to be a prequel ... because Finnick dies during the final of the original movies, "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2." 

After Katniss and Finnick are forced back into the arena for the third Quarter Quell, it's revealed that before they even entered, Haymitch told Finnick to ally himself with Katniss and her fellow District 12 victor, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Katniss is hesitant about Finnick at first, but he proves to be extremely valuable in the arena. And after Finnick, Peeta, Katniss, and their fellow allies Beetee (Jeffrey Wright) and Johanna (Jena Malone) try to escape the arena by destroying its electric forcefield, Katniss and Finnick unexpectedly bond in the run-down rebel base of District 13. Together, they agonize as Peeta and Annie Cresta (Stef Dawson), Finnick's true love, remain captives of the Capitol; happily, Finnick and Annie eventually reunite and get married.

Unhappily, Finnick joins Katniss on a mission to take down President Snow (Donald Sutherland) shortly after his wedding and is fatally attacked by horrifying lizard mutts as the rebels make their way through the Capitol's sewers. Katniss ultimately uses an explosive to end Finnick's suffering, and after his death, Annie gives birth to their son.

Since playing Finnick across three "Hunger Games" films, Sam Claflin has stayed pretty busy, so hopefully he'd be able to find time for any future Finnick-related projects. Just after the "Hunger Games" movies wrapped up in 2015, Claflin appeared alongside Emilia Clarke in the romantic drama "Me Before You," based on the book by Jojo Moyes. Shortly thereafter, he joined the cast of the hit Irish drama "Peaky Blinders" as villain Oswald Mosley and showed up in the Netflix original movie "Enola Holmes" as Mycroft Holmes, brother to Millie Bobby Brown's titular Enola as well as Henry Cavill's Sherlock (though he did not appear in its sequel).

Perhaps most notably — which is saying something, considering how popular all those aforementioned projects are — Claflin starred in the 2023 Amazon original series "Daisy Jones & The Six" as Billy Dunne, a rock star caught between his beloved, long-suffering wife, Camila Alvarez (Camila Morrone), and his tempestuous, high-spirited bandmate, Daisy Jones (Riley Keough). Claflin, who earned a 2024 Golden Globe nomination for playing Billy, is perfect in the role as a man struggling with addiction who is also trying to be a good father and husband amidst constant temptation. That said, in an ideal world, Claflin would be able to show up in a Finnick Odair film in some sort of role if one ever enters development.

You can catch "Daisy Jones & The Six" — and Claflin's central performance — on Amazon Prime now.