Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson Return for THE HUNGER GAMES: SUNRISE ON THE REAPING
Fans of The Hunger Games will be excited to learn that Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are stepping back into the world of Panem as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark for the upcoming prequel film The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
Their involvement has been rumored for months, and now the pieces are falling into place as Lionsgate prepares to bring Suzanne Collins’ latest novel to the big screen.
The new film explores the 50th Hunger Games, set twenty four years before Katniss and Peeta became the reluctant icons of District 12. This is the Quarter Quell that shaped Haymitch Abernathy into the mentor fans came to know.
The story focuses on the teenage Haymitch, played by Joseph Zada, stepping into the role originated by Woody Harrelson. While the studio is keeping quite on how Lawrence and Hutcherson will be utilized in the story, If you’ve read the book, you know the characters appear in the epilogue, which hints strongly at a flash forward sequence.
Sunrise on the Reaping arrives in theaters November 20 and marks the return of director Francis Lawrence, who has guided every film in the franchise since Catching Fire.
The screenplay comes from Billy Ray, with Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson once again producing.
Not long ago, Hutcherson teased the possibility of reuniting with his Panem family, saying: “I would love to be back on set with Francis, with Jen, with Liam, with Woody [Harrelson]. It would not take any convincing at all. I’d be there in a heartbeat.”
When asked if that might include the story’s coda, he said: “That would be a dream come true. Do dreams come true? Sometimes. Sometimes not. Sometimes, yeah.”
The cast for the film includes Elle Fanning, who plays a younger Effie Trinket, stepping into the character previously portrayed by Elizabeth Banks. Ralph Fiennes takes on President Coriolanus Snow, the role played by Donald Sutherland in the original series and Tom Blyth in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Kieran Culkin becomes Caesar Flickerman after Stanley Tucci’s unforgettable take on the character, and Jesse Plemons portrays Plutarch Heavensbee, following the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Kelvin Harrison Jr., Glenn Close, Maya Hawke, Mckenna Grace, Billy Porter, Whitney Peak, Ben Wang, Molly McCann, Iona Bell and Percy Daggs IV round out the impressive ensemble.
Are you excited to see Katniss and Peeta return to the big screen again in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping?
Source: Variety