‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’: Everything We Know

A dystopian prequel is getting a sequel. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, the sixth entry in the Hunger Games franchise, is scheduled to be released by Lionsgate on November 20, 2026. Based on the 2025 novel of the same name written by Hunger Games scribe Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping takes place after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes—starring Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler—and 24 years before the events of Jennifer Lawrence’s Hunger Games tetralogy.

Sunrise on the Reaping follows 16-year old Haymitch Abernathy, played as an adult in the original Hunger Games films by Woody Harrelson, and his girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird. Deadline reports that two rising stars will play the young lovers: Joseph Zada and Whitney Peak. Fresh off an Oscar nomination for Conclave, Ralph Fiennes will play the diabolical dictator of Panem, President Coriolanus Snow, portrayed in the original films by the late Donald Sutherland.

Power of the Dog Oscar nominee Jesse Plemons has been tapped to play future head game maker and rebellion leader Plutarch Heavensbee, who was originally portrayed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Mufasa: The Lion King star Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Stranger Things actor Maya Hawke have been cast as Hunger Games winners Beetee and Wiress. In the original franchise, Beetee and Wiress were allies in the 75th Hunger Games and portrayed by Jeffrey Wright and Amanda Plummer, respectively.

Elle Fanning, who recently starred in A Complete Unknown, will step into the high heels of Effie Trinket, the eccentric stylist for Haymitch Abernathy, made famous by Elizabeth Banks in the original franchise. And Kieran Culkin, hot off Oscar and Emmy wins for A Real Pain and Succession, respectively, will play eccentric Hunger Games host Caesar Flickerman, as originally portayed by Stanley Tucci.

Francis Lawrence, who has directed every iteration of the Hunger Games franchise since Catching Fire, will direct the upcoming film from a screenplay written by Billy Ray and adapted from Collins’s novel. The film is being produced by Color Force’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, with Cameron MacConomy executive producing.

Who are the stars in Sunrise on the Reaping? And how does Sunrise on the Reaping fit into the Hunger Games franchise? Here’s everything we know about The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

Wait, when does Sunrise on the Reaping take place?

Much like Star Wars, the Hunger Games franchise apparently began in the middle of the story. In 2012, Jennifer Lawrence starred in the first Hunger Games film as Katniss Everdeen, the 16-year-old girl from District 12 who takes her sister’s place in the 74th annual Hunger Games—a dystopian tradition in the totalitarian society known as Panem in which 24 children must fight to the death. From 2012 to 2015, Lawrence would star in three more Hunger Games films: Catching Fire, Mockingjay, and Mockingjay—Part Two, where—spoiler alert—she would eventually topple the regime and end the Hunger Games once and for all.

Rather than looking to the future to continue the franchise, Collins looked to Panem’s past. In 2020, she published The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which takes place 64 years before the events of the first Hunger Games novel. Songbirds and Snakes follows Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from District 12 for the 10th Hunger Games, and a young Coriolanus Snow, played by Blyth, who will eventually become the dictatorial president of Panem. In the original films, Snow was played by the late, great Donald Sutherland.

Sunrise on the Reaping, meanwhile, takes place 40 years after Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and 24 years before the first Hunger Games novel. It follows the events of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the second Quarter Quell. This time, one of District 12’s tributes is a teenaged Haymitch Abernathy. Eventually, he’ll become the rotund drunk memorably played by Harrelson, but in Sunrise on the Reaping, he’s simply a 16-year-old with a girlfriend named Lenore Dove Baird, whose mother, fans have theorized, might be Lucy Gray Baird’s cousin.

Who will star in Sunrise on the Reaping?

The latest casting announcement arrived on Thursday, May 22. Newly-minted Oscar and Emmy winner Kieran Culkin will take the stage as showboat Hunger Games host Caesar Flickerman, a role originated by Stanley Tucci in the original franchise. He is currently starring on Broadway in Glengarry Glen Ross alongside Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr.

“Kieran’s scene-stealing presence and undeniable charm are perfect for Caesar Flickerman, the sickeningly watchable host of Panem’s darkest spectacle,” says Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-president Erin Westerman said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Stanley Tucci made Caesar unforgettable—and now Kieran will make the role entirely his own.”

Adds producer Nina Jacobson, “Kieran’s magnetism, wit, and unpredictability make him a perfect fit for Caesar Flickerman. A host like Caesar transforms brutality into entertainment, and an actor as layered as Kieran makes sure we don’t look away.”

On Tuesday, May 20, casting was announced for a fan-favorite Hunger Games character: the fashion-forward blonde stylist Effie Trinket, played by Elizabeth Banks in the original film series. None other than Elle Fanning, fresh off a turn in the Oscar-nominated film A Complete Unknown, will play a young Effie Trinket, tapped to style Haymitch Abernathy for his first Hunger Games. Fanning has recently earned early positive buzz for her star turn in Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, which premieres at the Cannes Film Festival. She’ll also star in David E. Kelley’s upcoming Apple TV+ series, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and 20th Century’s Predator: Badlands, in theaters this fall.

“From the moment Suzanne released the book, one question echoed from fans around the world: Who will play Effie?” said Westerman. “Elizabeth Banks made her iconic—so who could honor that legacy while bringing us back to Effie’s early, most formative days? For us, there was only one answer. Elle Fanning’s career has been transcendent. She has a rare presence—warm, sparkling, and layered with extraordinary depth. She was the undeniable fan favorite from the start, and we’re honored she answered the call. The odds, it turns out, were in our favor.” Plus, she’s already got the blonde tresses to pull it off.

On Friday, May 16, Sunrise on the Reaping received a major injection of prestige when Lionsgate revealed that Ralph Fiennes would join the cast as Panem’s ruthless dictator, President Coriolanus Snow. Fiennes steps into the role played by the late Donald Sutherland in the original four films. He recently received his third Oscar nomination for starring as Cardinal Lawrence in the papal drama Conclave. Fiennes has made quite the career playing villainous characters, from his Oscar-nominated turn as SS officer Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List (1993) to his portrayal of vengeful chef Julian Slowik in The Menu (2022) to his stint playing ultimate baddie Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise. Next up, he’ll star in Nicholas Hytner’s The Choral and Danny Boyle’s zombie sequel, 28 Years Later.

“We wanted to honor Donald Sutherland by having one of this generation’s greatest actors play President Snow 24 years before Katniss Everdeen entered the arena,” said Nina Jacobson. “Working with Ralph has been on my bucket list since he traumatized me for life in Schindler’s List. It’s genuinely a thrill to welcome him to the Hunger Games.”

On Friday, April 25, Lionsgate announced that Jesse Plemons had been cast as a young Plutarch Heavensbee. A future Head Gamemaker and eventual rebellion leader, Plutarch Heavensbee was portrayed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Lawrence’s Hunger Games films. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Parts 1 and 2 mark Hoffman’s final film roles before his death on February 2, 2014.

Plemons, who earned an Oscar nomination for The Power of the Dog, will play a young Plutarch Heavensbee, capturing the reaping of the tributes in District 12. He’s recently appeared in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and Alex Garland’s Civil War opposite his wife, Kirsten Dunst. His upcoming credits include a reteaming with Lanthimos in Bugonia and a role in an untitled film from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

Haymitch Abernathy will be played by Australian newcomer Joseph Zada. He currently stars as Charlie in the Stan Australia original series Invisible Boys, based on the best-selling novel by Holden Sheppard. Next, he can be found starring in Prime Video’s series We Were Liars, which premieres in June. He also recently completed production on Netflix’s seven-episode East of Eden limited series, based on the 1952 novel by John Steinbeck.

Finding Zada was apparently no easy feat. “Nobody can be Woody Harrelson but Woody Harrelson,” Jacobson told Variety. “But you have to find that mischief that he has in him inherently and try to understand, if you turn back time from the man you meet at the beginning of The Hunger Games, who he was before all of that, and why he became that.”