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Lionsgate has released an action-packed trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping—a sequel to 2023’s Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and a prequel leading into the events of the first film, The Hunger Games (2012). In addition, Laika Studios released a trailer for its highly anticipated stop-motion animated feature, Wildwood. (Some spoilers for The Hunger Games below.) The main protagonist is a young Haymitch Abernathy, future District 12 mentor to Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). Woody Harrelson’s older Haymitch is a fan favorite who later becomes a jaded, drunken (yet secretly hopeful) cynic. Per the official synopsis: Set in the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, the story follows Haymitch (Joseph Zada) into the arena, where he forms an unlikely alliance with fellow tribute Maysilee Donner (Mckenna Grace) and joins a coalition determined to challenge the Capitol’s control under President Snow (Ralph Fiennes). As the competition unfolds, Haymitch risks everything to take down the Games from within the arena — setting in motion the rebellion that will change Panem forever. In addition to Zada, Grace, and Fiennes, the cast includes Ben Wang as Wyatt and Molly McCann as Louella, Haymitch’s fellow District 12 tributes for the 50th Hunger Games, aka the Second Quarter Quell, in which each district is required to send twice as many tributes to the capitol to compete to the death. (If you’ve read all the books and seen the films, you already know Haymitch wins his Games; the suspense and the emotional stakes lie in how he pulls it off—and what he loses in the process.) The cast also includes Jesse Plemons as a young cameraman named Plutarch; Glenn Close as District 12 chaperone Drusilla Sickle; Kieran Culkin as a young Caesar Flickerman, host of the Games; Elle Fanning as the young Effie Trinket, a stylist; Billy Porter as another stylist, Magno Stift; Maya Hawke as a young Wiress, winner of the prior year’s Games; Lili Taylor as the young Mags Flanagan, winner of the 11th Games; Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee Latier, another prior winner and father to District 3 tribute Ampert (Percy Daggs IV); and Whitney Peak as Haymitch’s girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird.
document fetched 2026-09-17 02:49 · canonical https://arstechnica.com/culture/2026/09/haymitch-gets-a-backstory-in-sunrise-on-the-reaping-trailer