The ‘Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping' Casting Reports So Far

Forbes

10-04-2025

The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games continues to remain a staple Hollywood franchise despite the blockbuster YA trend mostly come and gone. Now, after A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, another film is coming based on a new Suzanne Collins book, Sunrise on the Reaping.
The story follows the 50th Hunger Games (Katniss was in the 74th) which will tell the story of when a younger Haymitch Abernathy won his games (spoiler alert, I guess). This 'Quarter Quell' harvested double the number of tributes, so it will be a larger production and battle royale.
There are a number of reports of who are being considered for roles in the film, though nothing is officially confirmed yet. But fans may want to know how they may shake out. Here's what we know.
AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 10: Charlie Plummer visits the IMDb Portrait Studio at SXSW 2023 on March 10, ... More 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo byfor IMDb)
Haymitch Abernathy – Charlie Plummer. He's definitely the most unknown actor on the list you're about to see. He has a large number of credits to his name, but I doubt most would recognize him offhand. If cast, this would be by far his largest role yet, and he may be right for the part, we'll see.
LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND - DECEMBER 07: Ralph Fiennes arrives for the European Film Awards 2024 at ... More Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre (KKL Luzern) on December 07, 2024 in Lucerne, Switzerland. (Photo by)
Coriolanus Snow – Ralph Fiennes. The storied actor may be play the younger version of the main villain of the franchise (whose origin was saw in A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, played by Tom Blythe). Many are remarking that the late Donald Sutherland does in fact have a son who looks exactly like him, Kiefer Sutherland, but Fiennes would be a more high profile pick. Do the ages work? Sutherland was 76 when the first Hunger Games movie was released. Ralph Fiennes is 62, so you're missing about a decade in there if this is supposed to be 24 years ago. But I mean sure, whatever, if you can manage to land Ralph Fiennes.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 23: Kieran Culkin accepts the Outstanding Performance by a Male ... More Actor in a Supporting Role award for "A Real Pain" onstage during the 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on February 23, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by)
Caesar Flickerman - Kieran Culkin. The recent Oscar-winner seems pitch perfect as the younger version of the Hunger Games' greatest showman and interviewer. Whether he wants to take the supporting role is another question. My guess might be yes.
AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 11: Jesse Plemons visits the IMDb Portrait Studio at SXSW 2023 on March 11, ... More 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo byfor IMDb)
Plutarch Heavensbee – Jesse Plemons. This is the younger version of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's Gamemaker in the trilogy. Jesse Plemons is practically never cast in a bad movie, so this would be a good luck charm in the film.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 01: Elle Fanning attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A ... More Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Elle Fanning – Effie Trinket – The report here is that Fanning has actually been offered the role of a young Effie Trinket, which again, seems like pitch-perfect casting for the part.
None of these are confirmed yet, to be clear. The movie is slowly assembling itself and the book only came out last month. But all of these? I don't really see a bad one among them, unless they did want to go with a more known quantity for Haymitch. We'll see.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Bluesky
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.