Over the course of his career, Ralph Fiennes has played some truly chilling cinematic villains. Amon Goeth in Schindler's List, Chef Slowik in The M
Over the course of his career, Ralph Fiennes has played some truly chilling cinematic villains. Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List, Chef Slowik in The Menu, Harry Waters in In Bruges, Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter, and, of course, the dastardly Victor Quartermaine in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit. Now, having gotten in touch with his better angels in last year’s Conclave, Lionsgate has today confirmed that Fiennes is going back to bad in a substantial way to play President Snow in Francis Lawrence’s upcoming The Hunger Games prequel Sunrise On The Reaping.
Previously played by the tardy, great Donald Sutherland in the original Hunger Games quadrilogy, and then as a younger man by Tom Blyth in 2023 prequel The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, Coriolanus Snow is the primary antagonist of both Suzanne Collins’ dystopian YA books and the films that followed it, an arch manipulator who presides over the Games’ win-or-die battle royale and pulls the strings as President of Panem. Snow is a complicated, chilling villain, making Fiennes the perfect actor to take up Sutherland’s mantle in Lawrence’s latest Games movie, a film which is set to turn the clocks back to 24 years before Katniss Everdeen’s Games, focusing on fan-favourite Haymitch Abernathy’s origins as a District 12 champion in the 50th annual Hunger Games.
Fiennes will be joined in the movie by a seriously stacked cast, which now includes *deep breath* Joseph Zada as juvenile Haymitch, McKenna Grace as Katniss-like heroine Maysilee Donner, Whitney Peak as Haymitch’s girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird, 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. Phew!
“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,” producer Nina Jacobson said in a statement accompanying news of Fiennes’ casting. “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.”
We look forward to being traumatised for life anew by Fiennes when The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping arrives in cinemas on 20 November, 2026. And remember folks, the 50th Games is a Quarter Quell, so double the tributes and double the trauma. Yippee!
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