Sunrise on the Reaping has A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Easter egg you definitely missed

New Hunger Games novel Sunrise on the Reaping clearly mentions Lucy Gray Baird – but she isn’t the only reference to A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

It might be the earliest story of the bunch, but Songbirds & Snakes is our most recent foray into the Hunger Games books and movies… until now. Set during the Second Quarter Quell, Sunrise on the Reaping tells the story of Haymitch Abernathy (Katniss Everdeen’s mentor), who wins the 50th Hunger Games.

The book has just been released, with a new movie adaptation on the way in 2026. Astute fans will have noticed plenty of links to the original trilogy’s second book, Catching Fire – particularly if you look at who mentors the 50th games.

But Sunrise on the Reaping also has links to prequel A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Star Lucy Gray Baird is once again seen with President Snow, but she’s not the only character to return.

Tam Amber is seen both in Sunrise on the Reaping and A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

If you don’t recognize the young man pictured below, you’ll be forgiven. A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes introduced District 12’s Tam Amber, and now he’s back in Sunrise on the Reaping.

Lionsgate

When we first met him, Tam Amber was a member of the Covey and known for being a standout player on his mandolin. He survived the Covey Genocide before the events of Songbirds & Snakes, not performing while Lucy was competing in the 10th Hunger Games.

Afterwards, Tam was the only person to be awake when Lucy left the Meadow. Of course, we know he never saw her again given the ending of the book and movie.

40 years later, and things have changed. Tam has adopted Lenore Dove (Haymitch’s girlfriend) as his niece, raising her alongside fellow returning Hunger Games character Clerk Carmine Clade. However, the pair aren’t romantically involved… officially.

Haymitch tells us in the book, “I once told Lenore Dove I thought [Clerk] just hated love. That’s when she revealed he’d been together some thirty years with the fellow in town who replaces busted windows. They have to keep it quiet because loving differently can get you harassed by the Peacekeepers, fired from jobs, arrested even.”

“Given his own challenges, you’d think Clerk Carmine would be a champion of our love – I’m certainly supportive of his…” it continues.

Thanks to the Abernathys’ reputation as rebels, Clerk didn’t approve of Lenore’s relationship with Haymitch while Tam was more compassionate.

Lionsgate

Tam was well known for being a skilled Blacksmith, leading some fans to think he’s also already been seen in the very first Hunger Games movie.

“In book 1, we learn how Katniss got Prim’s goat, Lady,” one fan explained. “She states, ‘There is an old man who keeps a small herd of goats on the other side of the Seam. I don’t know his real name, everyone just calls him the Goat Man.

‘His joints are swollen and twisted in painful angles, and he’s got a hacking cough that proves he spent years in the mines. But he’s lucky. Somewhere along the way he saved up enough for these goats and now has something to do in his old age besides slowly starve to death. He’s filthy and impatient, but the goats are clean and their milk is rich if you can afford it.’

“And then in Songbirds, Coriolanus asks Lucy if anyone will be expecting her back, and Lucy Gray says, ‘Only one up when I left was Tam Amber. I told him I was going to find out about a goat. We’ve been talking about building a herd. Sell the milk as a sideline. I know this is a small detail and perhaps grasping at strings but if you put the two together, it makes a lot of sense that the goat man could be Tam Amber many years later.'”

Not only has this theory never been confirmed, we don’t yet know if Tam Amber will appear in the movie version of Sunrise on the Reaping (though logic tells us this is extremely likely).

For more, find out where to stream the Hunger Games movies, how Haymitch won The Hunger Games, and why you’re wrong about the worst Hunger Games movies.