It's a day ending in 'y', so you know what that means folks... more casting announcements for The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping! Over the las
It’s a day ending in ‘y’, so you know what that means folks… more casting announcements for The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping! Over the last few weeks, reveals of who’ll be starring in Francis Lawrence’s upcoming Games prequel have become the Zillennial equivalent of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey role call, with everyone from Jesse Plemons to Ralph Fiennes to Maya Hawke volunteering as tribute to appear in the latest adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ win-or-die sci-fi books. Now, in a modern pair of inky Instagram posts, Lionsgate has confirmed that Kieran Culkin and Elle Fanning are heading to Panem.
Per the above posts, newly minted A Real Pain Oscar winner Kieran Culkin is set to play Caesar Flickerman — the Hunger Games host previously played by Stanley Tucci — in Sunrise On The Reaping. Fanning, on the other hand, will fill Elizabeth Banks’ heels as stylist Effie Trinket in the film, much to the delight of fans who’ve been clamouring for the A Complete Unknown star’s casting ever since the prequel was first announced.
The duo join a stacked ensemble, led by newcomer Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy and Whitney Peak as girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird, that also includes *deep breath* Ralph Fiennes as President Snow, McKenna Grace as Katniss-like heroine Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons as gamekeeper/rebel Plutarch Heavensbee, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as mentor Beetee, Lili Taylor as District 4 champion-turned-District 12 mentor Mags, Ben Wang as District 12 tribute Wyatt Callow, and Maya Hawke as eccentric District 3 champion-turned-District 12 mentor Wiress.
Set 24 years before Katniss Everdeen’s Games, Sunrise On The Reaping follows a 16-year-old Haymitch as he competes in the 50th Annual Hunger Games. Held in a Quarter Quell year, meaning double the number of participants entering the arena, Haymitch’s are a brutal Games, going a long way to explaining how he becomes the alcoholic, Woody Harrelson played mentor to Katniss that we meet in the original Hunger Games books and movies. We’ll have front row seats to the televised dystopian deathmatch when The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping hits UK cinemas on 20 November, 2026. In the meantime, we’re off to revisit The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes and convince the rest of the office that it’s an underrated banger. Who’s with us?
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