EXCLUSIVE: Eight-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close and three-time Tony winner Billy Porter are the latest additions to the cast of Lionsgate’s anticipated The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
Close will play Drusilla Sickle, the cruel escort to the District 12 Tributes, while Porter is Magno Stift, her estranged husband and the Tributes’ uninspired designer.
Close and Porter join Joseph Zada, Whitney Peak, Mckenna Grace, Jesse Plemons, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Maya Hawke, Lili Taylor, Ben Wang, Ralph Fiennes, Elle Fanning and Kieran Culkin in the Francis Lawrence-directed adaptation of the bestselling book by Suzanne Collins.
The casting news was made official during Lionsgate’s presentation here at CineEurope.
Sunrise on the Reaping will be released on November 20, 2026. Lawrence is directing from a screenplay adaptation by Billy Ray. Color Force’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson will produce. Cameron MacConomy will executive produce. The five films in the franchise have taken in over $3.3 billion at the global box office.
Producer Nina Jacobson said, “Glenn Close is a dream Drusilla. She brings so much of her intellect and imagination to each role, creating characters who are unforgettable and iconic. I think Glenn and Francis will have a ball bringing Drusilla from the page to the screen.”
Regarding Porter, Jacobson added, “Billy is one of those rare performers who can dazzle and devastate in equal measure on stage and screen. He made an indelible impression on me when we worked together on Pose, both as an actor and a human being. Casting this show has felt like winning the lottery every time one of our idols said yes to us. To be able to announce Glenn Close and Billy Porter together is an embarrassment of riches that we can all celebrate.”
Published on March 18, Sunrise on the Reaping revisits the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.
Sunrise on the Reaping sold 1.5 million copies in its first week on sale in the U.S., UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The 1.2 million copies sold in the U.S. are twice the first week sales of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and three times the first week sales of Mockingjay.
Along with her eight Oscar noms, Close is a three-time Emmy winner, three-time Tony winner, and three-time Golden Globe winner. Her screen credits include Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Albert Nobbs, The Wife, 101 Dalmatians and the acclaimed series Damages, for which she won two Emmys.
She recently starred in Netflix’s Back in Action, Lee Daniels The Deliverance and Apple TV+’s international thriller Tehran. Upcoming projects include Rian Johnson’s Knives Out mystery Wake Up Dead Man for Netflix, the Hulu legal drama All’s Fair and The Summer Book from Music Box Films. Close is repped by CAA, MGMT Entertainment and Loeb & Loeb.
Porter won a Tony and a Grammy for Kinky Boots and Tonys for his production of the Best Musical winner A Strange Loop, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award for his humanitarian efforts. Porter just made his West End debut as the Emcee in Cabaret, and is making his London directorial debut with the play This Bitter Earth at Soho Theatre. He won the Emmy Award for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role on Pose. Upcoming, he will star for director Gurinder Chandha in Christmas Karma. He is represented by CAA, Amplified and Felker Toczek Suddleson McGinnis Ryan LLP.
Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien are overseeing the project for Lionsgate. Robert Melnik negotiated the deal for the studio.
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