I will not be volunteering as tribute. But I’ll be first in line to see this!
Following the release of the majorly successful series The Hunger Games in 2008, author Suzanne Collins released two highly anticipated prequels in recent years. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in 2020, a prequel about the main antagonist in The Hunger Games, Coriolanus Snow (President Snow) and Sunrise on the Reaping in 2025, a prequel about The Hunger Games main characters Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark’s victor mentor Haymitch Abernathy.
Collins’ second prequel novel Sunrise on the Reaping released in March of 2025, selling 1.5 million English copies within it’s first week. The biggest debut for any title in the series. It follows Haymitch Abernathy as he is reaped for the 50thHunger Games, 24 years before Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark’s games.
Understandably, a movie adaption has been announced, starting production in June 2025, only a few months after the books release and we are finally getting casting announcements!
The two main characters, Haymitch Abernathy, previously played by Woody Harelson, and Lenore Dove Baird, have finally been announced; 20-year-old Australian actor Joseph Zada (pictured below) and 22-year-old Ugandan-Canadian actress Whitney Peak has been cast in the titular roles.
More cast announcements are set to be made in the coming weeks as the film starts production later this year.
