"The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping" Finds Its Haymitch and Lenore Dove

“The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” has found its leads. Joseph Zada has been tapped to play District 12 tribute Haymitch Abernathy, while Whitney Peak will star as his girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird.

The Lionsgate film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by “Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins, and takes place 40 years after the events of prequel “The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes” and 24 years before Katniss Everdeen’s time in the arena.

“Sunrise on the Reaping” will be released on November 20, 2026. Francis Lawrence, who has helmed every installment of the franchise since 2012’s “Catching Fire,” will direct from a screenplay adaptation by Billy Ray. 

Color Force’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson will produce. Cameron MacConomy will executive produce.

Published on March 18, “Sunrise on the Reaping” revisits the world of Panem 24 years before the events of “The Hunger Games,” starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.

The five films in “The Hunger Games” franchise have taken in over $3.3 billion at the box office and attracted acclaimed talent including Viola Davis, Julianne Moore and Donald Sutherland.

Jacobson opened up earlier this year about the unique challenge of casting a young Haymitch, portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the original four films. 

“Nobody can be Woody Harrelson but Woody Harrelson,” she said. “But you have to find that mischief that he has in him inherently and try to understand, if you turn back time from the man you meet at the beginning of “The Hunger Games,” who he was before all of that, and why he became that.”

“Sunrise on the Reaping” sold 1.5 million copies in its first week on sale in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 

The 1.2 million copies sold in the U.S. are twice the first week sales of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” and three times the first week sales of original trilogy-ender “Mockingjay.”

Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien are overseeing the project for Lionsgate. Robert Melnik negotiated the deals for the studio.