- Suzanne Collins’ latest Hunger Games novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, will be adapted for the big screen, set to hit theaters in November 2026
- Joseph Zada will star as Haymitch Abernathy and Whitney Peak will play Lenore Dove Baird
- The prequel tells the origin story of Haymitch, previously played by Woody Harrelson onscreen
The next installment in the Hunger Games film franchise has revealed its leads.
Up-and-coming actor Joseph Zada will star as District 12 tribute Haymitch Abernathy, while Whitney Peak will play his girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which will hit theaters Nov. 20, 2026. The film is an adaptation of author Suzanne Collins’ recently-released bestseller, the latest in her run of dystopian YA novels.
The film will be directed by Francis Lawrence, who returns after helming the original tetralogy, in which Woody Harrelson played an adult Haymitch.
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Ahead of appearing in the prequel, Zada will star in the highly-anticipated Amazon Prime series We Were Liars, which premieres this June. He also just wrapped production for Netflix’s East of Eden, in which he stars alongside Florence Pugh, Mike Faist, Martha Plimpton, Tracy Letts, and Chris Abbott.
Zada, 19, currently can be seen starring in the lead role of Charlie in the upcoming Stan Australia Original Series Invisible Boys, based on the bestselling novel by Holden Sheppard.
Peak, 22, recently starred in Max’s highly-anticipated reboot of Gossip Girl as Zoya Lott. She also appeared in Hocus Pocus 2 opposite Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimi.
She will next be seen as the lead in the upcoming shark thriller Shiver opposite Phoebe Dynevor, as well as alongside Liam Neeson and Teresa Palmer in 4 Kids Walk into a Bank.
Collins’ prequel, which was released March 18, depicts the Capitol’s Second Quarter Quell, set between the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and The Hunger Games trilogy.
The sixth big-screen Hunger Games installment, Sunrise on the Reaping, follows the 2023 Songbirds and Snakes adaptation starring Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will be in theaters Nov. 20, 2026.
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