Ralph Fiennes and Kieran Culkin have joined the impressive cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping, due out next next year. The cast already includes Maya Hawke, Mckenna Grace and Jesse Plemons.
Update, 22nd May: More casting news for Sunrise On The Reaping! Things are getting very exciting as Lionsgate keeps adding to the next Hunger Games film’s cast list.
Joining the likes of Jesse Plemons, Maya Hawke and McKenna Grace in the new film are Ralph Fiennes, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning, Ben Wang, Iona Bell and Molly McCann.
It’s a pretty impressive cast, wouldn’t you say? Fiennes is due to take on the role of President Snow while recent Oscar-winner Culkin will be the flamboyant Caesar Flickerman. Fanning will charm us as Effie Trinket while Karate Kid: Legends star Ben Wang will be Wyatt Callow, Haymitch’s fellow tribute. McCann will play Louella, another District 12 tribute and Bell has been cast as Lou Lou, but going into their characters any further would be to spoil some of the book’s plot.
We’re still a while away from the release of Sunrise On The Reaping, but there’s much to get excited about already.
You can read the rest of the casting announcements for the film below. The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping is heading to cinemas 20th November, 2026.
Update, 15th May: We can barely keep up with all these Hunger Games casting announcements. Lionsgate has also announced that Maya Hawke and Lili Taylor will be joining Sunrise On The Reaping as Wiress and Mags respectively. Like Jesse Plemons and Kelvin Harrison Jr., Hawke and Taylor are playing younger versions of very well known and beloved characters.
Wiress and Mags, both previous winners of the deadly Hunger Games, are assigned to mentor the District 12 tributes, including one Haymitch Abernathy, in the Second Quarter Quell as District 12 has no victors of its own.
Update, 13th May: Sunrise On The Reaping, the latest Hunger Games movie, has added another name to its ever-growing cast. Kelvin Harrison Jr., who most recently voiced Taka in Disney’s Mufasa, is set to play a younger version of Beetee in the film. Audiences will remember Beetee from the original film series, where the character was portrayed by Jeffrey Wright.
This time around, Beetee has already won his own games and is the father of Ampert, a young lad who gets drafted into the Second Quarter Quell.
Our original story follows…
Author Suzanne Collins took us back to Panem and the cruel world of the Hunger Games in March 2025 when Sunrise On The Reaping, the latest novel in the series, was released. The new book focused on a familiar face; a younger version of Haymitch Abernathy, played by Woody Harrelson in the film franchise.
A film adaptation of the book was announced all the way back in 2024 at the same time as the book, and news of the film’s cast has been reaching our ears (via Variety here).
Haymitch will be played by Joseph Zada, a face familiar to the fans of the Australian series Invisible Boys. Zada is also set to join Florence Pugh in Netflix’s East Of Eden.
Mckenna Grace will play Maisilee Donner, a fellow tribute in the games and Whitney Peak has been cast as Lenore Dove, Haymitch’s girlfriend. Jesse Plemons has the difficult task of following in Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s footsteps, playing a young Plutarch Heavensbee, who isn’t quite yet the mysterious Gamemaker we meet in Catching Fire.
As you might remember, Haymitch competed in the second Quarter Quell celebration, which found Panem reaping twice the number of tributes to compete in the deadly Hunger Games. Collins’ most recent novel received positive reviews (and, if you ask this writer, for good reason – it’s an excellent read).
Francis Lawrence – who chatted to us about the previous Hunger Games film, The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes here and here – is set to direct Sunrise On The Reaping, which will hit cinemas on 20th November 2026.
