The Hunger Games movie franchise continues with the upcoming film Sunrise on the Reaping, a prequel set 24 years before the original Hunger Games film. The film reveals how Katniss Everdeen’s troubled mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, survived the bloody, brutal culling of the 50th Hunger Games, aka the Second Quarter Quell, but was forever scarred by what transpired inside the arena.
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Sunrise on the Reaping is the second Hunger Games prequel film that franchise director Francis Lawrence has done. The previous film, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was set during the 10th Hunger Games, making this next installment a much more direct prequel to the original films. But, as you can see in the trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, Francis Lawrence and his team have done spot-on recastings of every major carryover character.
Scroll below for a more in-depth look, and see if you agree that Sunrise on the Reaping could make The Hunger Games the most seamless progression of actor/character evolution we’ve seen from a major franchise.
Haymitch Abernathy
Joseph Zada will play Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, taking over the role from Woody Harrelson in the original films. People may not know Zada from much, except the Amazon Prime Video psychological thriller series We Were Liars, which has a second season in development.
President Coriolanus Snow
Ralph Fiennes follows his hit performance in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple with this latest take on President Coriolanus Snow. A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes told the story of how a young Snow fell in love with his tribute during the 10th Hunger Games, and tried to start an independent life, only to wind up as a ruthless man of the Capitol, climb the ladder of power through murder, lies, and deception. In Sunrise on the Reaping, Snow will have achieved that climb and become president of Panem, ruling with an authoritative fist. Ralph Fiennes will take over the middling part of Snow’s story, after Donald Sutherland played the elder Snow in the original Hunger Games films, and Tom Blyth played young Snow in Songbirds and Snakes.
Plutarch Heavensbee
Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s masterful acting was required for Plutarch Heavensbee, the man who walks the razor’s edge to help the Second Rebellion achieve victory. In the second film, Catching Fire, Heavensbee is the Head Gamemaker for the milestong 75th Hunger Games, aka the Third Quarter Quell. He ensured it was the last Hunger Games ever held before becoming a commander in the Rebellion. Jesse Plemmons (Breaking Bad, Fargo) is taking over the role of Sunrise on the Reaping, where we’ll see firsthand how filming the Second Quarter Quell creates a deep resolve in cameraman Plutarch Heavensbee, leading to his eventual role in freeing the nation.
Caesar Flickerman
The flamboyant announcer/host of the Hunger Games, Caesar Flickerman, is an icon who is arguably as big as the games themselves. The larger-than-life media personality was a major fan-favorite in the books, but actor Stanley Tucci ate when he brought the character into live-action in the original Hunger Games movies. Jason Schwarztman played Caesar’s father, Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman in Songsbirds and Snakes; Succession star Kieran Culkin has the far more unenviable task of playing a younger Caesar, stepping directly into the shadow of Tucci’s performance.
Effie Trinket
Effie Trinket is the “fashionable” woman of the Capitol who manages the Hunger Games tributes sent from District 12. Elizabeth Banks played Effie as a world-weary older woman hiding the pain of losing so many of her tributes behind a perennial joker’s grin, and superficial distractions of pop-culture. In Sunrise on the Reaping Effie is a stylist working in the Capitol, with a genuine glimmer of hope still in her eye. Elle Fanning (Predator: Badlands) will be playing the younger Effie.
Wiress
Wiress (Amanda Plummer) and her colleague Beetee (Jeffrey Wright) were dragged back into the Hunger Games for the Third Quarter Quell (75th games), after having survived the 49th Hunger Games. However, one year after surving her games, Wiress (Stranger Things’ Maya Hawke) is assigned to serve as mentor to Haymitch Abernathy and the other tribuges from District 12, in the Second Quarter Quell (50th games). Hailing from Disctrict 3, the primary region of Panem’s eletronic and digital goods, Wiress has technological insight that invaluable to her triubtes. We also know from established lore, that her mentorship ends in a trauma that drives her mad her for the rest of her life.
Beetee Latier
Beetee is another resident of District 3 who won the 34th Hunger Games by using his tech prowess for electronic wiring to set a trap that killed all of the final competitors in his games. Afterward, Beetee was put to work designing Panem’s communication systems, as well as mentoring Wiress in the 49th Hunger Games the year before. However, when Beetee attempted to subvert the system he built, he is punished by having his his son, Ampert (Percy Daggs IV) drafted into the Second Quarter Quell, with Beetee forced to serve as mentor to his own son. Kelvin Harrison Jr. has appeared in the Ender’s Game movie adaptation and the cult-hit horror flick It Comes at Night, and will play the younger Beetee.
Mags Flanagan
Mags Flanagan is a resident of District 4, which specializes in fishing, who won the 11th Hunger Games using her maritime knowledge. Mags was the first participant to receive the money and access to a celebrity life that started being awarded to Hunger Games victors, after her games. Mags went on to mentor many other District 4 tributes, and is brought back for the Second Quarter Quell (played by The Conjuring‘s Lili Taylor) alongside Wiress, to co-mentor to Haymitch and the other District 12 tributes. We know from Catching Fire that Mags would go on to enjoy a good life mentoring Disctrict 4 tributes, eventually helping Finnick Odair become the youngest victor in Hunger Games history at the 65th games. Mags’ luck would eventually run out when she is conscripted into the Third Quarter Quell as an elderly woman (played by Lynn Cohen), and sacrifces herself to save Katniss Everdeen, Peeta and Finnick from one of the hazards of the games (poison fog).
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will be in theaters on November 20th. Discuss the trailer with us on the ComicBook Forum!
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