The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is becoming increasingly important to Suzanne Collins’s larger franchise in light of recent events. The new prequel novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, finally tells Haymitch Abernathy’s story, including how he won his Hunger Games twenty-five years before the events of the original book. As readers devour the latest offering from the world of Panem, many are surprised to see that the new story contains many parallels with Catching Fire.

With the film adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping coming out next year, fans should pay extra attention to Catching Fire for hints about what they can expect from the upcoming movie. Catching Fire includes a large amount of worldbuilding for Panem and the Hunger Games in general, including the Quarter Quells, which occur every twenty-five years. One interesting scene from the 2013 film not only includes a connection to Haymitch’s Quarter Quell but also reveals the horrifying truth about the Capitol and the Hunger Games that even the Districts wouldn’t want to believe.

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A Deleted Catching Fire Scene Reveals How Long the Capitol Planned to Continue the Hunger Games

The Hunger Games Were Never Meant to End

A deleted scene from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire changes how viewers view the Capitol, confirming once and for all just how vile and wicked the elite of Panem truly was. After a planning meeting in which they discuss what to do about the rising threat of Katniss Everdeen, President Snow, and Plutarch Heavensbee elect to change the stipulations of the Third Quarter Quell, destroying whatever the original prompt was and replacing it with the announcement that only Victors would be the year’s tributes. A cut scene would have then followed Plutarch as he makes his way into a secret chamber to do Snow’s bidding. This chamber holds the prompts for all future Quarter Quells–and there are far more than anyone would have guessed. The scene shows at least 80 separate capsules containing the rules for future Quarter Quells. With a Quarter Quell occurring every 25 years, this indicates that the Capitol planned for at least 2,000 years of Hunger Games.

Though the canonicity of the deleted Catching Fire scene is up for debate since it didn’t make the final cut of the movie, its implications are horrifying nonetheless. With the knowledge that the Capitol has planned for at least two millennia of Hunger Games, it is all the more terrifying to watch the original films, which depict only the beginning of a long and bloody tradition. For reference, the rebellion against the Capitol that resulted in the institution of the Hunger Games is believed to have lasted for about three years. Therefore, the Capitol intended to punish the Districts more than six hundredfold for the pain they caused them during the Dark Days. Worse, the revelation that there were at least 80 planned Quarter Quells leads to an even more horrifying truth–the Hunger Games were never going to end.

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The Capitol Was Never Going to End the Hunger Games

There Were More Than Two Millennia of Hunger Games Planned

Catching Fire‘s most interesting deleted scene reveals that the Hunger Games would never have ended had the Capitol remained in charge. Some naive citizens might have convinced themselves that the annual Hunger Games were a temporary punishment for the Districts’ rebellion against the Capitol. The most optimistic people of Panem might have even wondered if the bloody practice would come to an end after 100 years, a more than sufficient punishment to stomp out any lingering hints of rebellion. However, it seems unlikely that the Capitol ever intended to end the Hunger Games. Even if they had been allowed to continue for their planned 2,000-year run, the Capitol would undoubtedly have concocted new Quarter Quells to extend the practice well into the future. The harsh reality is that, without another rebellion, the Capitol would never have had mercy on the twelve Districts of Panem.

Ironically, the Hunger Games Victors would be the ones to ultimately bring the Capitol to its knees. By subjugating the Districts to public punishment each year, the Capitol unwittingly created celebrities in its Victors. Every so often, one Victor would find a way to use their celebrity as a shield, knowing that the Capitol couldn’t have them murdered outright for their acts of rebellion. The Capitol spent decades quelling such Victors, ensuring that any of them who acted against the government led a miserable life. However, even the Capitol couldn’t stop the rising surge of rebellion after 75 brutal years of the Hunger Games.

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Panem’s Rebellion Was Always Inevitable

The Districts Could Only Take So Much

Catching Fire‘s deleted scene reveals the unparalleled cruelty of the Capitol, which also proved to be its downfall. The Hunger Games were meant to be as cruel and horrific a punishment as possible, scaring the Districts from ever fomenting rebellion again. However, President Snow and the original Gamemakers failed to take into account that people can only be pushed so far. For all his pontificating about hope, Snow lacked the foresight to see that “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Had the people of Panem been given a distant hope that the Hunger Games would end someday, they may not have been as open to rebellion when Katniss Everdeen came along. With something to look forward to, the Districts easily could have fallen in line and waited out their sentence until they were finally free from the annual reminder of their sins. Instead, the Capitol chose to relish in their citizens’ punishment, which would have continued forever had someone not stepped in to change things. Doomed to the interminable punishment of the Hunger Games, the Districts’ rebellion was an inevitability.

The Capitol’s ruthless subjugation of the Districts proved to be its downfall. Refusing to have mercy, the elite of Panem wrote their demise, yet remained wholly unaware of their downfall until it was far too late. By the time Katniss Everdeen arose as the Mockingjay, the Districts were more than ready to take a second stand against the Capitol. Despite their plans otherwise, there would only be three-Quarter Quells.