Jennifer Lawrence rules herself out of The Hunger Games prequels

Lionsgate is rumoured to be planning possible spin-off movies

Jennifer Lawrence is hanging up her bow and arrows

Jennifer Lawrence has thankfully recognised that launching straight into a string of Hunger Games prequels would be “too soon”.

The Oscar-winning actress, who plays Katniss Everdeen in the hit dystopian franchise, has distanced herself from possible spin-offs after the series ended with Mockingjay Part 2 this autumn.

“I wouldn’t be involved,” she told Variety. “I think it’s too soon. They’ve got to let the body get cold, in my opinion.”

Lionsgate has not confirmed that further movies are in the pipeline and author Suzanne Collins is yet to pen more books beyond her original trilogy, but the studio’s vice chairman Michael Burns said recently that he believes the franchise will “live on and on” like Harry Potter.

“If we went backwards there obviously would be arenas,” he said at a media conference earlier this month when discussing how young fans missed the lack of actual Hunger Games arenas in the Mockingjay films.

“Whatever extensions of The Hunger Games brand we pursue, the intent is not to glorify violence by arbitrarily telling arena stories, but to continue Suzanne Collins’ exploration of the concepts of just war theory.”

Director Francis Lawrence does not seem to share his lead star’s concerns, saying instead that he would “love to be involved” in the possible plans.

“The interesting part of the story for me is to go back 75 years earlier and see how everything became the way it is,” he told Entertainment Weekly.

“I’m sure if Suzanne were to get inspired and decide there’s another story that’s important for her to tell that exists within the world of Panem and whether about the Dark Days, another character, or another set of Games, whatever that could be, I’m sure it would be great.”

Whether film fans actually want to see more from Panem remains in question, with Mockingjay Part 2 lagging behind the earlier movies at the box office.

With Lawrence hanging up her bow and arrows too, making more could easily prove a dodgy decision. May the odds be ever in our favour.