‘The Hunger Games' director Francis Lawrence expressed regret over the decision to split the final book of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy into two movies. This later on became Mockingjay Part 1 and Mockingjay Part 2.

“You know, we got some flack for splitting the movies; I think they're two distinct stories, but really, that kind of evolution [of the characters] would be a much, much, much more difficult thing to do in the course of two hours versus the course of two films.”

In a recent interview with PEOPLE, Lawrence also stated that he's unsure if everyone on the team has the same regrets as him. “I totally regret it. I'm not sure everybody does, but I definitely do.”

While he had defended the decision earlier, he has now come to understand the frustration among fans.

The Hunger Games director also acknowledged that making fans wait a year between the two parts of the final book came across as disingenuous. “In an episode of television, if you have a cliffhanger, you have to wait a week, or you could just binge it, and then you can see the next episodes. But making people wait a year, I think, came across as disingenuous, even though it wasn't.”

Francis Lawrence directed three out of the four Hunger Games films. He will also be behind the upcoming prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

As the Hunger Games franchise continues with the release of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes on November 17,  The Hunger Games director assured that it will not be divided into multiple films. Instead, it will have a single runtime of two hours and 36 minutes, making it the longest Hunger Games film to date.