Last month, director Francis Lawrence’s adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping—the Hunger Games prequel about Haymitch Abernathy—found its stars. The story of the 50th Hunger Games will star Joseph Zada as young Haymitch (stepping into Woody Harrelson’s shadow, sort of) and Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, his girlfriend.
But in any Games, there are many tributes, mentors, aides, hangers-on, spectators, and Gamemakers, and therefore many roles to cast. Four more actors have since signed on: Jesse Plemons, Mckenna Grace, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Maya Hawke. And most of these actors are playing characters we’ve seen in previous (but set later) films.
Plemons is taking on the unenviable role of filling Philip Seymour Hoffman’s shoes as Plutarch Heavensbee; in his final performances, Hoffman played the role in the two parts of Mockingjay. This casting is a bit odd as Sunrise takes place 24 years before The Hunger Games, and Plemons is only a decade or so younger than Hoffman was—but Plemons played Hoffman’s character’s son in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, and he pretty much never disappoints, from Friday Night Lights to Battleship to Black Mirror (pictured above).
Grace is playing the lone new character here: Maysilee Donner, Haymitch’s fellow tribute from District 12. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “In the book, Maysilee is known to resent the Capitol for its dehumanizing treatment of people and is determined to fight back against them. While in the arena, she and Haymitch depend on each other. Maysilee is most notably the original owner of the mockingjay pin that Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen is gifted at the start of The Hunger Games.”
Grace played a younger version of Sabrina in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a young version of Tonya Harding in I, Tonya, and a young version of Carol in Captain Marvel, but has since grown into her own leading roles, including in Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
Kelvin Harrison Jr. is set to play Betee, the role played by Jeffrey Wright in Catching Fire. He was the victor of the 34th Hunger Games, and is the father of Ampert Latier, a tribute in the 50th Games (that role has not yet been cast).
Harrison Jr. voiced Taka in Mufasa: The Lion King, and has played an intriguing array of historical figures, including B.B. King in Elvis, Martin Luther King Jr. in Genius: MLK/X, and Jean-Michel Basquiat in the upcoming biopic Samo Lives. (This, fascinatingly, means he shares two roles with Jeffrey Wright, who starred in 1996’s Basquiat.)
And last but most certainly not least, Stranger Things star Maya Hawke steps into the role of Wiress. Amanda Plummer played the older version of this character in Catching Fire. Wiress was the victor of the 49th Hunger Games, and, like Betee, she’s from District 3.
Sunrise on the Reaping is directed by Francis Lawrence, who has directed most of the movies in the series, and the adaptation is written by Billy Ray (Terminator: Dark Fate). It’s in theaters November 20, 2026.