17-05-2025
Ralph Fiennes Cast in Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
Originally appeared on E! Online
The odds are certainly in Ralph Fiennes' favor.
The Conclave actor, 62, is the latest to join the star-studded Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping cast, with him set to play President Coriolanus Snow in the adaptation of Suzanne Collins' novel.
Of course, Fiennes is the third actor to bring the iconic villain to life with the late Donald Sutherland taking on the role in the original Hunger Games movies and Tom Blyth playing a teenage version of the character in the 2023 prequel The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes.
'We wanted to honor Donald Sutherland by having one of this generation's greatest actors play President Snow," producer Nina Jacobson said in a press release confirming Fiennes' casting, "24 years before Katniss Everdeen entered the arena."
The prequel film, set to be released November 20, 2026 and the sixth of the franchise, will follow the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. The film takes place 40 years after the 2023 prequel and 24 years before the original 2012 Hunger Games film.
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The plot will center on the story of 16-year-old Haymitch—played by Woody Harrelson in the first five installments and set to be played by Joseph Zada in the latest installation—a Hunger Games victor who mentored characters Katniss and Peeta through their own games in the original book and film. In Sunrise on the Reaping, Haymitch will go through his own unexpected journey of being selected as tribute.
Others tapped to join the cast include , , , Maya Hawke, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Lili Taylor.
As Fiennes takes on the role of the ruthless dictator of Panem, he is no stranger to playing chilling roles, as the Academy Award nominee played a Nazi officer over 30 years ago in Schindler's List as well as the legendary role of Lord Voldemort in the final four Harry Potter films.
"I've been asked to play a lot of villains and psychopaths," Fiennes said in a clip from CBS News Sunday Morning in October 2024. "I like characters that have contradictions inside of them."
For secrets about the Hunger Games franchise, read on...
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