Glenn Close and Billy Porter join cast of ‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’
Glenn Close and Billy Porter have become the latest actors in a star-studded line-up to join the cast of the upcoming film The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
Deadline revealed the news on June 16th, per production company Lionsgate’s presentation regarding the film at the CineEurope conference in Barcelona, Spain.
They revealed that eight-time Oscar nominee Close will be playing the character of Druscilla Sickle, the harsh escort to the tributes in District 12, while dominant theatre actor Porter, who has previously won three Tony Awards, will play her estranged husband Magno Stift, an uninspired designer for the tributes.
Producer Nina Jacobsen said at the announcement: “Casting this [film] has felt like winning the lottery every time one of our idols said yes to us. To be able to announce Glenn Close and Billy Porter together is an embarrassment of riches that we can all celebrate.”
The pair are joining an already stacked cast including Ralph Fiennes, Elle Fanning, and Kieran Culkin, among a slew of others, in the latest film adaptation of the hugely successful novel franchise originally by Suzanne Collins.
Sunrise on the Reaping will follow the backstory of Haymitch Abernathy, the mentor to Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in the original series, during his own first shot at the Hunger Games. The character, first played by Woody Harrelson in the first adaptations, will now be assumed by Joseph Zada in telling the story of his younger days.
“I’m a very, very, very big fan of everything to do with it and the whole cast and everyone involved,” Zada previously told Deadline. “I’m so ridiculously nervous.”
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will be directed by Francis Lawrence and is set to enter production in the coming months, with a release date slated for November 20th, 2026.
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