It’s almost time to return to The Hunger Games — and if the looming arrival of prequel film Sunrise on the Reaping has you reflecting on your shipping allegiances, you’re not alone.
During an Oct. 28 Call Her Daddy interview, Jennifer Lawrence confirmed that she will indeed make an appearance in the new installment (out Nov. 20). But while fans may be excited to check in on Katniss and Peeta after all these years, Lawrence herself didn’t historically ship her character with the “Boy with the Bread.”
“Um… I was Team Gale. Even after he killed my sister,” she confessed, referring to her on-screen sister Prim’s fate in Mockingjay.
It marks one of Lawrence’s more conclusive responses to the shipping question, which she’s fielded many times throughout her career. She set a diplomatic precedent in a 2012 interview with Seventeen, sharing: “I think I was Gale, until he started getting a little too trigger-happy… or maybe first Peeta and then Gale, or Gale then Peeta? I went back and forth a lot!”
But as Lawrence noted on Call Her Daddy, revealing an unpopular shipping opinion can bring real backlash. “I said that I was Team Jeremiah during The Summer I Turned Pretty, and the level of hate that I got was bigger than any controversy I’ve ever been involved in in my life,” she said, adding that she was “ragebaiting slightly” in an innocent way, but wasn’t expecting the fandom’s ire.
“I’ve been involved in a lot,” she continued. “Like, I’ve pissed off the public many, many times. I’m old. I’ve been famous for decades. It never occurred to me that that would be the number one where people were just like, ‘I wish you had never been born.’”
First, it bears mentioning — don’t do that! Who you ship with whom in a fandom is a totally personal, subjective choice. And above all, it should be fun. With that being said, it is a little bit impressive that Lawrence has managed to double down on selecting the thorniest possible picks in YA’s most divisive love triangles. As the Oscar winner mentioned on Call Her Daddy, Gale helped develop weapons against The Capitol that ultimately led to Prim’s death.
And in the world of The Summer I Turned Pretty, remember: Jeremiah betrayed Belly in a pretty devastating way! And while fans might debate the specifics of his transgression — it echoes the ancient texts: Ross and Rachel on Friends — it’s clear that his spur-of-the-moment proposal and the ill-fated engagement that followed weren’t always in Belly’s best interest.
And yet… Given how popular opinion isn’t quite in her favor (wink), Lawrence’s commitment to voicing her questionable ship takes is fun to watch.
As an actor who shot to fame through one of the biggest and most beloved YA franchises, she knows firsthand how much scrutiny even innocuous comments can stir in a fandom. That she’s now airing messy opinions about her movies — and even other love triangles that have nothing to do with her — reflects a kind of playful self-possession that only time can bring. Similarly, maybe one day we’ll find out which Fisher boy Lola Tung was rooting for all along.
