Actor Ralph Fiennes is going from magical dictator to dystopian dictator.
The English actor, best known for playing Lord Voldemort in five Harry Potter films, has been cast as President Coriolanus Snow in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping. Fiennes would be the third actor to portray the character after the late Donald Sutherland in the original four films and Tom Blyth in the 2023 prequel Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
Sunrise on the Reaping will take place 24 years before Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteered as Tribute in the first The Hunger Games. It follows 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy – the character originally portrayed by Woody Harrelson – when he participated in the 50th Hunger Games, known as the Second Quarter Quell. Newcomer Joseph Zada will portray the character in the forthcoming film.
Fiennes joins an ensemble cast that includes Zada, Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, McKenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Maya Hawke as Wiress, Lili Taylor as Mags, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee Latier, and Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow. Oscar nominee Jesse Plemons also co-stars as Plutarch Heavensbee, cameraman for the Games with an agenda of his own.
The film will once again be directed by Francis Lawrence, who has helmed every installment in the franchise since 2013’s Catching Fire. Shooting begins this summer, with a release date set for November 20, 2026.