- Jesse Plemons has been cast as Plutarch Heavensbee in the film adaptation of The Hunger Games prequel novel Sunrise on the Reaping
- Plutarch Heavensbee was previously portrayed by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay
- Plemons has a special connection with Hoffman, having played his son in a previous movie
Jesse Plemons is following in the late Philip Seymour Hoffman’s footsteps.
On Friday, April 25, it was announced that Plemons will portray a young Plutarch Heavensbee in Sunrise on the Reaping, the upcoming screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ hit Hunger Games prequel novel. Hoffman, who died in 2014 at age 46, played that character in the original Hunger Games movies.
The most recent casting announcement for Sunrise on the Reaping, the upcoming screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ hit Hunger Games prequel novel, revealed that Plemons, 37, will play a young Plutarch Heavensbee. Hoffman, who died in 2014 at age 46, played that character in the original Hunger Games movies.
It’s something of a full-circle moment for Plemons, 37, who worked with the late actor once before: in the Oscar-nominated 2012 drama The Master. Plemons portrayed Val Dodd, son of Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd, in the Paul Thomas Anderson film.
“Jesse is one of the most talented actors of his generation, with a proven record of picking his roles selectively,” Erin Westerman, co-president, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said in a statement. “We are honored that he has chosen to bring his own take to one of the most fascinating figures in Panem, and feel that his previous collaboration with Philip Seymour Hoffman makes it all the more special.”
Hoffman’s performances in the two-part The Hunger Games: Mockingjay movies, released in 2014 and 2015, were among his last. That franchise starred Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Jeffrey Wright, Donald Sutherland and more.
In Collins’ YA novels and the original Hunger Games tetralogy, Plutarch Heavensbee was head gamemaker of the titular games — and secretly a rebellion leader who ends up a commander in Panem’s District 13.
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Sunrise on the Reaping, led by franchise veteran director Francis Lawrence, has cast Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy; Whitney Peak as his character’s girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird; and Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner. More casting announcements are forthcoming.
While distributor Lionsgate’s screen adaptation was announced months ago, Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping novel only came out on March 18. The novel takes place between the original Hunger Games trilogy and prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. At this point in the franchise’s timeline, Plutarch Heavensbee is a cameraman staging the selection of Games tributes, or reaping, in District 12.
Sunrise on the Reaping will return fans to the Hunger Games arena on Nov. 20, 2026. Plemons also stars in Yorgos Lanthimos’ upcoming film Bugonia, in theaters Nov. 7.
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