Ralph Fiennes to play President Snow in ‘Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’

Ralph Fiennes has joined the cast of the upcoming Hunger Games prequel, Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

• READ MORE: ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ review: sings a pleasingly familiar tune

The actor will play the Panem dictator in the next film in the franchise, directed by Francis Lawrence. He joins Joseph Zada, Whitney Peak, Mckenna Grace, Jesse Plemons, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Maya Hawke, Lili Taylor and Ben Wang who have previously been announced as castmembers.

Fiennes take on the role follows the late Donald Sutherland, who portrayed Coriolanus Snow in the series’ first four films that kicked off with The Hunger Games in 2012. Tom Blyth then starred as a younger version of the character opposite Rachel Zegler in 2023’s prequel feature The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will hit cinemas in November 2026, with Lawrence directing from a script by Billy Ray that adapts Suzanne Collins‘ best-selling novel. Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson produce for Color Force, while Cameron MacConomy executive produces.

“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,” Jacobson told Hollywood Reporter. “Working with Ralph has been on my bucket list since he traumatised me for life in Schindler’s List. It’s genuinely a thrill to welcome him to the Hunger Games.”

The film takes place in Panem on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, 24 years prior to the events in the franchise’s first book.

The last Hunger Games film received a four-star review from NME, which called it “the best of the franchise” owing to the film’s “tense, paranoid latter half”.

Jennifer Lawrence, who played Katniss Everdeen across the original film series, recently said she’d “totally” be open to returning to the character if she had the opportunity.

Fiennes previously starred in Conclave as the dean of the college, who organises the voting and uncovers scandals among the candidates. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay. Religious experts have praised the accuracy of the film, which dramatises the selection of a new Pope.

The film has made headlines in recent weeks after Pope Francis, the former head of the Catholic Church passed away on April 21, aged 88. Following his death, streaming of Conclave spiked 283 per cent, and it was later reported that real-life cardinals turned to the film for guidance before casting their votes for Pope Francis’ successor.

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