Following up on our coverage last week of director Gary Ross and whether or not he will direct The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire, conflicting intel has emerged over the last few days regarding Ross’ stance and motivation behind returning for the sequel.

At first, Playlist reported that Ross had left the franchise, but not for monetary reasons – it was to move on to a new project that would ironically end up in a bigger payday for the director. Sources said that “the burning desire simply isn’t there to spend another couple of years with Katniss in the Capitol.”

But over the weekend, Deadline countered this intel with reports that Gary Ross had not stepped away from directing the sequel, especially considering how involved he has been with planning for Catching Fire. Ross has been working with author Suzanne Collins on the sequel since last November and had brought in scribe Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) to work on the script when the post-production schedule of Hunger Games prevented Ross from writing it with Ross as he did with the first film.

Jennifer Lawrence will indeed be back on board for the sequel, filming Catching Fire and the sequel to X-Men: First Class back to back. Lionsgate and Fox worked out Lawrence’s scheduling for her to be able to film both sequels.

Ross was not available for comment, but we’ll keep you up to date here at SciFi Mafia!

Catching Fire is slated to hit theaters on November 22nd, 2013.