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Sunrise on the Reaping slated for release in November 2026
Shahana YasminFriday 21 November 2025 10:18 GMTComments
CloseThe Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping teaser
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Glenn Close looks almost unrecognisable in the first trailer of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, the forthcoming prequel in the dystopian franchise.
Close, 78, stars as Capitol official Drusilla Sickle and is shown with heavy facial prosthetics, thin arched eyebrows, bright lipstick, and an angular orange bob.
Lionsgate released the trailer on Thursday.
The franchise, based on a series of bestselling dystopian novels by Suzanne Collins, focused on Katniss Everdeen.
The 16-year-old ends up in the 74th edition of Hunger Games, a punishment designed to keep districts surrounding the cruel and exploitative Capitol from rebelling again by forcing them to send a boy and girl, chosen by a lottery, to a reality show-type contest that involves them fighting until only one remains.
open image in galleryGlenn Close in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (Lionsgate)
open image in galleryGlenn Close in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (Lionsgate)Sunrise on the Reaping will focus on Katniss’s mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, as he is selected as one of the four tributes from District 12 to compete in the 50th Annual Hunger Games, also called the Second Quarter Quell.
“I just think of character stuff as really fun. I’m doing The Hunger Games now and that’s another amazing collaboration I’m having fun with,” Close told Entertainment Tonight on her role.
McKenna Grace, Whitney Peak and Joseph Zada play Maysilee Donner, Lenore Dove Baird and Haymitch, respectively.
Other cast members include Ralph Fiennes as President Coriolanus Snow, Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Kelvin Harrison Jr as Beetee, Maya Hawke as Wiress, Lili Taylor as Mags, Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow, Molly McCann as Louella McCoy, and Iona Bell as Louella’s body double Lou Lou.
open image in galleryTeaser shows Joseph Zada as Haymitch in his Hunger Games arena (Lionsgate)
open image in galleryThere’s a quick glimpse of Elle Fanning as young Effie Trinket, originally played by Elizabeth Banks (Lionsgate)
open image in galleryRalph Fiennes plays President Snow (Lionsgate)The teaser shows Zada as Haymitch in his Hunger Games arena, over two decades before the first film where Woody Harrelson introduced the gruff, perpetually drunk mentor, as he says: “I think these games are gonna be different.”
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There’s also a quick glimpse of Elle Fanning as young Effie Trinket, originally played by Elizabeth Banks, who was a major fan favourite for the role, as well as of Fiennes as President Snow.
The original film series ran from 2012 to 2015, grossing over $3.3bn worldwide. In 2023, a prequel starring Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler, The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes, hit the theatres, grossing over $300m.
The prequel takes place 24 years before Everdeen would volunteer for her sister, and 40 years after the events of The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes, which followed the evolution of the antagonist Coriolanus Snow.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is slated to be released on 20 November 2026.
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