Jesse Plemons Joins Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

Casting for Sunrise on the Reaping keeps on a-coming. The next star to join the latest Hunger Games movie is Jesse Plemons, recently of Civil War and Black Mirror.

Per Deadline, Plemons is set to portray Plutarch Heavensbee, played in the original films by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. (After Hoffman’s passing in 2014, 2015’s Mockingjay Part 2 recreated him digitally and gave some scenes meant for him to other characters.) In those, Plutarch is a Gamemaker for the Capital and eventually revealed as a key rebellion leader against them.

Sunrise, a prequel set 24 years before the first Hunger Games, sees Plutarch as a young District 12 kid working as a cameraman who occasionally encourages Haymitch Abernathy to survive the blood sport. Earlier in the week, Lionsgate revealed Joseph Zada as the young Haymitch, Whitney Peak as his love Lenore Baird, and McKenna Grace as Maysilee Donner.

Plutarch Heavensbee.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping – in theaters November 20, 2026. pic.twitter.com/2e4EprWE6f

— The Hunger Games (@TheHungerGames) April 25, 2025

The Sunrise on the Reaping movie was announced alongside the book of the same name by Suzanne Collins. After the success of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes—the President Snow-focused prequel whose book came in 2020 and the movie in 2023—the series went back to the prequel well to show how Haymitch won the Games of his youth and how his life intersected with parents of future protagonists Katniss and Peeta.

Look for Sunrise on the Reaping, helmed by returning Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence, to hit theaters November 20, 2026.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.