“With this book, I wanted to explore the state of nature, who we are, and what we perceive is required for our survival,” Collins said in a statement. “The reconstruction period 10 years after the war, commonly referred to as the Dark Days — as the country of Panem struggles back to its feet — provides fertile ground for characters to grapple with these questions and thereby define their views of humanity.”

With a prequel, Collins will revive one of the most successful fantasy franchises of the past several decades.

Set in a fictional dystopian world where children from competing districts are forced to fight in a televised, reality show-like competition, “The Hunger Games” was a groundbreaking novel that redefined the boundaries of young adult fiction. Its gritty, violent story featured a resilient young protagonist, the bow-and-arrow-slinging heroine Katniss Everdeen. In the wake of best-selling Y.A. fantasy series like “Twilight” and “Harry Potter,” Collins’s series ushered in a new wave of dark dystopian and post-apocalyptic children’s books.

[ Read our review of “The Hunger Games.” ]

When “The Hunger Games” was released, in 2008, it became an instant best seller. Two more books followed, and the trilogy was translated into 54 languages, with more than 100 million copies in print, and remained on The New York Times best-seller list for more than five consecutive years. Film adaptations, starring Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, earned nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box office. (Lionsgate is in talks with Collins about adapting the prequel novel into a film as well, according to a statement from a Lionsgate executive.)

Collins has said she got the idea for the series when flipping channels between reality TV programs and a news segment about the conflict in Iraq. The jarring contrast gave her the idea for a world where an orchestrated battle to the death was televised for entertainment as a way to appease and oppress the masses. Collins was also influenced by her father’s military service in Vietnam and wanted to introduce young readers to “just war theory” by describing a government that was so oppressive that armed revolution would be the only recourse.