Ralph Fiennes cast as President Snow in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
Focus Features
Ralph Fiennes is adding another iconic movie villain to his list of incredible roles. The actor who once played Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise is now set to take on the role of President Snow in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Fiennes joins a cast that already includes Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy, Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Maya Hawke as Wiress, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee, Lili Taylor as Mags and Ben Wang as Wyatt.
Fiennes will be the third actor to step into the role after Donald Sutherland played an older version of the character in the original films, and Tom Blyth played an even younger version in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Sunrise is set between the events of that film and the original quadrilogy.
“We wanted to honor Donald Sutherland by having one of this generation’s greatest actors play President Snow 24 years before Katniss Everdeen entered the arena,” producer Nina Jacobson said. “Working with Ralph has been on my bucket list since he traumatized me for life in Schindler’s List. It’s genuinely a thrill to welcome him to the Hunger Games.”
Fiennes is already a legendary actor known for far more than just playing Voldemort. He’s also starred in films like The Grand Budapest Hotel, The English Patient, and the aforementioned Schindler’s List. He is also set to star in 28 Years Later, which will hit theaters later this year. Sunrise on the Reaping is slated for a Nov. 20, 2026, and will be directed by Francis Lawrence, who has helmed every film in the franchise since Catching Fire.
Joe Allen is a freelance writer at Digital Trends, where he covers Movies and TV. He frequently writes streaming…
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ ending, explained
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023).
By the time young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) has committed to fleeing the dystopian nation of Panem with Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) in the final act of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the seeds have already been planted for the future dictator’s turn to evil. Not only has he knowingly ratted out his best friend, Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andrés Rivera), for conspiring against the Capitol by sending a jabberjay recording of one of their conversations to the villainous Dr. Gaul (Widows star Viola Davis), but he’s also been given a one-way ticket to a better, Capitol-adjacent future by his Peacekeeper boss.
Is Jennifer Lawrence returning to The Hunger Games franchise?
In 2012, Jennifer Lawrence was already a star on the rise thanks to her Oscar-nominated turn in Winter’s Bone and her starring role as Mystique in X-Men: First Class. However, Lawrence’s career reached even greater heights when she was cast as Katniss Everdeen in the film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Lawrence reprised her role for three sequels, which adapted the remaining two novels in Collins’ trilogy. Those films not only firmly established Lawrence as a box-office draw, but they also made her an icon in the Young Adult film genre.
Lawrence has since moved on from the franchise, and she earned an Oscar for Best Actress for her starring turn in Silver Linings Playbook. But despite leaving Katniss behind eight years ago, there is still interest in seeing Lawrence revisit one of her most famous roles. While promoting her latest film, No Hard Feelings, the question of a potential Hunger Games return was directly posed to Lawrence. And she gave a fairly definitive answer about her feelings for the character that helped make her a superstar.
Is Jennifer Lawrence returning to The Hunger Games franchise?
The Hunger Games prequel The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes gets first trailer
Head back to Panem and discover the origins of a young Coriolanus Snow (Billy the Kid’s Tom Blyth), decades before he would rule as the oppressive president of the nation, in the first trailer for the prequel film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. The film is based on the novel of the same name by The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins.
Set 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games, the film follows an 18-year-old Snow, who is looking for a purpose as he tries to restore relevancy to his disgraced family in the Capitol. Ahead of the 10th Annual Hunger Games, Snow is assigned to mentor the female tribute from District 12, Lucy Gray Baird (West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler). As Hunger Games co-creator Casca Highbottom (Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage) tells Snow in the trailer, a mentor’s job is to “turn these children into spectacles, not survivors.” During the reaping ceremony, Baird boldly sings and curtsies to the crowd, reminding fans of another defiant District 12 tribute, Katniss Everdeen, who would unite the nation years later.
