In the December issue of Empire, which hits news stands this Thursday, our coverage of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 includes a few intriguing glimpses of the franchise's future. For one, director Francis Lawrence discussed the possibility of further Panem stories, in the same way that Harry Potter has led to Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, after Mockingjay wraps up.

"It's a tough thing. It's a weird thing," says Lawrence. "That world of Harry Potter, there's a lot to that world that you can explain. You can understand the appeal of telling another story, but can you actually do it without Harry, Hermione and those characters? Will people care as much? And I guess you can say the same thing about the Hunger Games world. There are a lot of past games and a lot of this world, but without Katniss, is it the same? Part of what I like about the series is the connection to things we think about and talk about now. What's the new version of that? That would be the tricky thing."

Our extensive coverage also saw Lawrence confirm that no digital trickery was used to complete the work of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman after his sad death during production on the film. "He had two substantial scenes left and the rest were appearances in other scenes. We had no intention of trying to fake a performance, so we rewrote those scenes to give to other actors... The rest we just didn't have him appear in those scenes. There's no digital manipulation or CG fabrication of any kind."

For more on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, the new issue of Empire is your best port of call as we talk to all the cast and crew.