Info in Movie News | Jesse Plemons is officially stepping into the world of Panem. The Oscar-nominated actor has been cast as a young Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, Lionsgate’s newest addition to its multi-billion-dollar dystopian franchise. This announcement arrives as the movie gears up to explore one of the darkest and most defining chapters in Hunger Games history, the 50th Games, better known as the Second Quarter Quell.
According to Deadline, Plemons will depict the youthful version of Plutarch, who was played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in Catching Fire and both parts of Mockingjay. The part has an added emotional value as Plemons was once an associate of Hoffman and is now due to carry on the character's legacy whose affiliations and tactics were key in the uprising against the Capitol.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the official Hunger Games account confirmed the news on April 26, 2025, stating, “Jesse Plemons is Plutarch Heavensbee. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Only in theaters November 20, 2026.”
Plemons isn’t the only exciting name attached to the project. Joseph Zada will play a younger Haymitch Abernathy, the only surviving victor from District 12 before Katniss, previously portrayed by Woody Harrelson. Whitney Peak has been cast as Lenore Dove Baird, Haymitch’s ally and possible love interest during the Games. Meanwhile, Mckenna Grace will take on the role of Maysilee Donner, a tribute from District 12 whose fate intertwines with Haymitch’s in ways fans of the book will recognize.
This prequel takes place 24 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteers at the reaping, but nearly 40 years after the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. At the center of the story is the Second Quarter Quell, a special edition of the Games with cruel twists, where each district must send double the usual number of tributes.
The movie is based on Suzanne Collins’ latest novel, which hit shelves on March 18, 2025. The book sold 1.5 million copies around the world in no time, 1.2 million of which only in the U.S., leaving behind even The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Readers appreciated the novel more for the intense and serious subject and for the deeper and earlier look at the reaping of the rebellion of the Panem than for the brighter aspect of the book.
The cameras will roll on the new movie in July 2025, with Francis Lawrence directing. This will be the fifth movie directed by Lawrence, who has also reconstructing the Panem district, giving him an essential part of the cinema. The movie script will be the work of Billy Ray, and old-time producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson will, as well, join the team, of course, accompanied by Cameron MacConomy in the role of the executive producer.
Lionsgate has high hopes for the project, especially given the franchise’s previous box office performance, over $3.3 billion across five movies. With Plemons now on the call sheet and a powerful new chapter of Panem's history to tell, Sunrise on the Reaping is shaping up to be one of 2026’s most anticipated releases.
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