Large cast, high stakes: Creators of new Hunger Games prequel film tease one character’s origin
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In The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping, Joseph Zada plays a younger version of Haymitch Abernathy, the character played by Woody Harrelson in the first four films.
PHOTO: LIONSGATE
- The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping features 48 tributes, double the usual number, making filming complex and crowded with stunt doubles on set.
- The film explores Haymitch Abernathy's origin, showing his journey from hopeful teenager to the hardened mentor seen in earlier films, starring Joseph Zada.
- Shot in remote Asturias, Spain, the movie is a sequel and prequel in the franchise, directed by Francis Lawrence and releasing on Nov 20, 2026.
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LOS ANGELES – For producer Nina Jacobson, filming The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping was mayhem.
The film, due out in November, is the sixth instalment in The Hunger Games film franchise, based on the dystopian science-fiction novels by Suzanne Collins.
Set in the nation of Panem, The Hunger Games follows children known as tributes who are forced to fight to the death in an annual spectacle orchestrated by the nation’s corrupt rulers.
But this particular film features double the usual number of participants in the games – 48, instead of 24, as each of Panem’s 12 districts had to send twice the number of tributes to the Capitol for the 50th Hunger Games. That meant a more crowded set.
“We had the 48 tributes, but we also have to have their stunt doubles,” Jacobson told Reuters in August, following a sneak peek trailer of the upcoming film.
The movie is based on Collins’ 2025 novel of the same name. It serves as a sequel to The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) and a prequel to The Hunger Games (2012).
Director Francis Lawrence, who helmed some of the previous Hunger Games films, described the shoot as a “big ordeal”, given the difficulty of keeping all the children safe on set.
It stars Joseph Zada as a younger version of Haymitch Abernathy, the character played by Woody Harrelson in the first four films. In those movies, he is the hardened mentor of protagonist Katniss Everdeen, who was played by Jennifer Lawrence.
Other cast members include Jesse Plemons, Elle Fanning, Kieran Culkin, Mckenna Grace and Glenn Close.
The film will chart Haymitch’s transformation from an optimistic teenager into the brash alcoholic seen in later films.
Finding the right actor for that journey was essential.
“This role really takes an actor through everything,” Lawrence said. “To go from such sort of hope and optimism, and through such tragedy and horror, and to come out willing to fight is a really tough thing to ask for from somebody so young.”
The movie was filmed in Spain’s Asturias region, the most remote location Jacobson has ever worked.
“It was incredible, but there was nothing there. Zero infrastructure, like imagine being parked in the middle of a national park, but minus the greeting centre and bathrooms or any of those things,” she said. REUTERS
The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping opens in Singapore cinemas on Nov 19.