If you’re looking at upcoming movie and book releases for fall 2026, you might feel a bit of deja vu. Media from the 2010s are making a resurgence in the next few months, and they seem to know exactly what Gen Z needs now that we’ve stepped into adulthood. There was nothing quite as foundational to Gen Z’s childhood as the books and movies from the 2010s, and now that we’ve grown up, it only makes sense that we’d want to recreate that magic that helped get us here.
With a new John Green novel hitting shelves, the next Hunger Games movie coming out, another Divergent book releasing soon, and even more blasts from the past, it feels like we’ve opened some sort of portal to the 2010s. While Millennials may have been responsible for a lot of the buzz around these series a decade ago, Gen Z grew up alongside these fandoms, too, and we’re finding that we aren’t ready to let go as adults. For a lot of us, it feels like the stars are finally aligning again, giving us the chance to return to the books and movies that defined our childhood — and I, for one, am here for it.
Dystopia is Back
Not only have the The Hunger Games movies made their return to theaters over a decade after the first film was released, but fans are also gearing up for the next film to be released on Nov. 20. The series is still super popular after all these years, with fans still flocking to theaters to watch the movies they know and love and buzzing about their excitement for the release of Sunrise on the Reaping in a few months. Fans have been on the edge of their seats waiting for the new movie after the book detailing Haymitch’s games was released last year.
There was nothing quite like the time when the movies were first coming out. Everyone seems to want their chance to get in on the magic of the series that revolutionized the dystopian genre a decade ago, now that it’s making its resurgence. While it’s incredibly exciting that fans are going to be able to see Haymitch’s story on the big screen, there is just something so comforting about being able to return to the time when you first saw the series on the big screen again, especially as you’re faced with the unknowns of early adulthood.
You can’t talk about the 2010s generational dystopian run without including the Divergent series. Fifteen years after the original series came out, author Veronica Roth is stepping back into the world she created with two new books set in an alternate universe where Tris chooses a different faction. The YA dystopian resurgence and our immersion back into our childhood simply wouldn’t be complete if Divergent wasn’t coming back into circulation right along with The Hunger Games.
“I think The Hunger Games and Divergent are having a resurgence because our generation of young adults have not had a big popular dystopian book or movie franchise, so we are going back to what was popular,” Alyssa*, an FSU junior, says. “I feel like the dystopian aspect also adds a level of escapism since it feels that much more disconnected from our current reality,” adds Dani*, a 22-year-old from Florida.
Divergent leaned into a lot of the same themes as other dystopian novels and had a huge fan base that’s now eager to see how Tris’s story is different in this new version of the series, titled The Sixth Faction, when it releases on Oct. 6.
John Green Is Writing For Adults
John Green is responsible for a huge part of the YA genre that defined Gen Z, not just Millennials. While Millennials may have claimed him first, his books The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska became centerpieces of the media Gen Z consumed in our early years. His books were incredibly influential, falling right alongside the other stories we loved during that era, discussing things that felt huge to our younger selves and helping to make our coming of age a little less scary.
He’s making his return to fiction at the perfect time, and stepping into the adult genre along with the audience he cultivated years ago, with his new book, Hollywood, Ending, which releases Sept. 22. Fans are ecstatic to have a story from Green meet them where they’re at now in their lives, considering how perfectly his books matched our struggles in our childhood.
The Twilight Renaissance
If we needed more evidence that Gen Z is aching for their 2010s media, we’ve even seen a Twilight renaissance years after the movies first came out, and it’s not due to any upcoming additions to the series; Twilight is simply in high demand. Not only did the movies go back to theaters for the 20th anniversary last year, and we got to see the series from Edward’s perspective when Midnight Sun was released in 2020, but the series recently got its own jewelry line at Alex and Ani and announced a Twilight in Concert tour on Sept. 8.
While Gen Z may not have been the first generation to discover Twilight, we’ve certainly held onto it, allowing it to grow along with us and become a staple series in our lives. “I think that it’s always fun to return to a series like Twilight that you read or watched when you were much younger, especially going from kid to adult. It’s familiar and fun to rewatch and feel like you’re returning to that time in your life,” according to a Dani*.
It’s only natural to want to lean back into the media that defined your childhood, finding something that feels familiar and comfortable amidst the constant change of adulthood. It’s no surprise that so much of the YA media that Gen Z leaned into as kids is getting pulled back into the spotlight with new releases in 2026. Gen Z might not be living in their childhood years anymore, but clearly, the connection to the pieces of media we grew up with is still strong. Fall 2026 is letting us embrace all of the beloved books and movies that made us who we are a decade later, showing just how important nostalgia is to our generation.
*Names have been changed.