The Hunger Games franchise is experiencing a renaissance right now and it makes sense as to why. The franchise will soon be releasing its prequel spin-off, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and some of the film’s stars will be appearing in exciting new projects, such as the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy‘s movie and Illumination’s Migration.
The Hunger Games could be defined as the series that helped made the dystopian YA genre popular post-2010s. It showcased a world where children were forced to fight to the death as punishment for a rebellion that occurred 74 years ago. It also told a story of how a girl from the poorest district ended up becoming the face of a rebellion. But in what year did these events take place? Were they mentioned in the books or were there clues scattered about The Hunger Games‘ timeframe?
What year does The Hunger Games take place in?
Based on the details in the books, the world of Panem still uses the Gregorian Calendar thanks to the birthdates of some of the characters. It is also important to know that Panem still uses the 12-month calendar cycle since the Victory Tour takes place six months before the next Hunger Games as an ongoing method to remind the districts about the games.
Information outside of the books and films (eg video games) confirmed that Panem was located in a post-apocalyptic North America and was able to build a society that managed to survive numerous wars and catastrophes. It was also revealed in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay that democracy was a thing of the past and was something the rebels were fighting to bring back.
While there are details about Panem’s real-world connections and how society functioned in the past, official dates and years have not been revealed in any of the franchise’s material.
Instead of using actual years, fans agreed to use the years since the Treaty of Treason was signed to pinpoint when each of the events takes place. So for the events of The Hunger Games, that was the 74th year since the games began, hence its unofficial year would be 74 ATT (after the Treaty of Treason). It makes sense that this would be the year system since whenever any of the characters or the books talk about past events, they’d usually say “x years since the 74th Hunger Games” or “x years since the first rebellion.”
While it would be interesting to see which part of real-life history became the catalyst for the creation of Panem, the franchise is probably better off keeping that information hidden or vague so that readers and movie watchers would focus on the main story rather than searching for tiny clues of a pre-Panem’s society.