Kieran Culkin cast as Caesar Flickerman in 'The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.' See who else will appear in the prequel.

Yahoo

23-05-2025

Hunger Games fans are staying fed. This week the dystopian film franchise began to announce the cast of the highly anticipated Sunrise on the Reaping, adapted from author Suzanne Collins's just-released novel of the same name.
Though the film is set more than two decades before the original Hunger Games trilogy kicks off with Jennifer Lawrence's heroine Katniss, a beloved character is back. Sunrise tells the story of a teenage Haymitch Abernathy, portrayed in the original franchise by Woody Harrelson, as he fights to survive his own Hunger Games — all while refusing to bend the knee to the ruthless Capitol, which this time around placed him and 47 other children in the deadly arena.
The movie comes after the 2023 adaptation of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which starred Tom Blyth as a young will-be President Snow and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, a singer forced to compete in the Hunger Games.
The Sunrise on the Reaping novel only hit bookshelves on March 18 — but fans have been itching to see who will star in the film. With the movie already slated to hit theaters on Nov. 20, 2026, here's who we know thus far will appear.
Fresh off winning his first Academy Award earlier this year, for his role in A Real Pain, Kieran Culkin will soon take on the role of Caesar Flickerman — the host of the Hunger Games, originally portrayed by Stanley Tucci — in Sunrise on the Reaping. Culkin, brother of Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin and actor Rory Culkin, is known for films like The Cider House Rules, Igby Goes Down and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. He portrayed Roman Roy on HBO's hit series Succession from 2018 to 2023, for which he won an Emmy.
In Sunrise on the Reaping, Harrelson's gruff, ornery character is 16 and trying to survive a grueling life in Panem's District 12 when a series of shocking circumstances leads him to be called to the Hunger Games arena. (And on his birthday, no less!) But Haymitch won't go down without a fight, and while we may think we know how Haymitch's story ends, there's a lot to Sunrise on the Reaping that quietly sets up Katniss and company's future ability to take down corrupt President Snow once and for all.
If you haven't heard Joseph Zada's name before, you will soon. The 20-year-old Australian actor is set to star in two much anticipated TV adaptations: Netflix's East of Eden, opposite Florence Pugh, and E. Lockhart's We Were Liars, dropping on Prime Video this summer. He also appeared in the Australian series Invisible Boys, which was released earlier this year.
Lenore Dove is a member of the Covey, a group of traveling musicians and storytellers — just like Lucy Gray Baird was in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. She's also Haymitch's longtime love.
Whitney Peak is best known for her starring role in the Max Gossip Girl revival, as well as The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Hocus Pocus 2. She also appeared in Sabrina Carpenter's music video of 'Nonsense.'
Maysilee Donner is a shopkeeper's daughter who becomes one of District 12's tributes in the supersize version of The Hunger Games alongside Haymitch. In the book it's also revealed that she is the original owner of Katniss's Mockingjay pin — something that is cut from the Hunger Games film franchise. She becomes one of Haymitch's trusted allies in the arena, despite the two getting off on the wrong foot.
McKenna Grace is a singer and actress who played a young Tonya Harding in I, Tonya. She appeared in TV roles including The Haunting of Hill House and Designated Survivor before starring in the rebooted Ghostbusters: Afterlife franchise and The Handmaid's Tale, where she was nominated for an Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series Emmy in 2021. She's also slated to star in the upcoming Colleen Hoover adaptation Regretting You.
Fans of the original Hunger Games trilogy will recognize Plutarch Heavensbee as the Head Gamemaker for the 75th annual Hunger Games, when Katniss and Josh Hutcherson's Peeta compete for a second time. In Sunrise on the Reaping, Plutarch is a wealthy Capitol-born cameraman working his way up the ladder of the Hunger Games while also secretly conspiring against Snow.
Plemons's breakout role came in the television series Friday Night Lights, where he portrayed Landry. Since then the prolific actor has appeared on shows like Breaking Bad, Fargo and Black Mirror.
One of Plemons's first major film roles was in 2012's The Master, where he acted alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman, the actor who played an older version of Plutarch in the original film franchise. Since then he has appeared in movies like The Post, The Irishman, The Power of the Dog, Game Night and Killers of the Flower Moon.
This year, Plemons returned to Black Mirror for the sequel to the 2017 episode "U.S.S. Callister."
Kelvin Harrison Jr. is taking on the role of the brainy Beetee, a survivor of the Hunger Games who first appeared in Catching Fire and was originally portrayed onscreen by Jeffrey Wright. Harrison previously starred as the titular character in the 2019 drama Luce, opposite Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer and has since appeared in films such as The Trial of the Chicago 7, Cyrano, Elvis and Chevalier, where he starred as French Caribbean musician Joseph Bologne. The actor is no stranger to prequels: He recently voiced Taka, aka young Scar, in Mufasa.
Lili Taylor is playing Mags Flanagan, another victor of the Hunger Games tasked with helping Haymitch. The actress is known for films like Mystic Pizza, Short Cuts, The Addiction, Girls Town and I Shot Andy Warhol, for which she received critical acclaim for her role as radical feminist Valerie Solanas. She is slated to appear in Netflix's upcoming Fear Street: Prom Queen.
Maya Hawke is set to portray Wiress, an eccentric, tech-skilled Hunger Games victor originally portrayed by Amanda Plummer in Catching Fire.
The actress, who is the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, stars on Netflix's Stranger Things and has appeared in films like Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, Asteroid City and Do Revenge. She is making her off-Broadway debut this month in the play Eurydice.
Ben Wang is slated to portray Wyatt, the other male tribute from District 12 who joins Haymitch in the Hunger Games arena. Wang previously starred on the Disney+ series American Born Chinese and can next be seen Karate Kid: Legends, which is out May 30. He also has a role in The Long Walk, a Stephen King adaptation, which is headed to theaters on Sept. 12.
Ralph Fiennes will be the third actor to portray President Coriolanus Snow, following in the footsteps of the late Donald Sutherland in the initial Hunger Games trilogy and Tom Blyth in the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. A prolific stage and screen star who has appeared in films like Schindler's List, The English Patient and The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fiennes is no stranger to playing the villain in a popular book-to-screen franchise: He portrayed evil wizard Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise.
Elle Fanning was a fan favorite to play young Capitol stylist Effie Trinket, a role originated by Elizabeth Banks in the original Hunger Games trilogy. Fanning, a onetime child star, made her film debut in I Am Sam, where she portrayed a younger version of her sister Dakota Fanning's character. Since then, the prolific actress has starred in films like Super 8, Maleficent, The Beguiled, A Rainy Day in New York and All the Bright Places. On the TV side, she starred in the historical comedy The Great, as well as the true crime adaptation The Girl from Plainville.
English actress Iona Bell joins the cast as Lou Lou, who gets wrapped up in the Hunger Games because of a Capitol scheme that would definitely be a spoiler to reveal. She has previously appeared in the short film Pulp by Rind and has several films in various stages of production, according to her IMDb.
Irish actress Molly McCann, who plays District 12 resident Louella, previously appeared in the television series Bad Sisters, as well as The Hardacres, The Holiday and The Vanishing Triangle.
This article was originally published on April 25, 2025, and has since been updated.