Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping — All 41 Characters Explained

One of the many strengths of The Hunger Games franchise is the sheer amount of history still waiting to be explored. Suzanne Collins first introduced readers to Panem, her dystopian version of North America, in 2008. The nation is controlled by the lavish and ruthless Capitol, which forces one boy and one girl from each of its 12 districts into a televised fight to the death. The original films followed Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, as she confronted the Capitol’s cruelty, the growing rebellion and the deadly Games. Collins later expanded that world with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which portrayed a younger Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth, long before he became president.

The next chapter headed for theaters is The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Like Collins’ 2025 novel, the film centers on Haymitch Abernathy, the District 12 mentor and former victor originally played by Woody Harrelson. The prequel also introduces a large group of new characters, including younger versions of people familiar to longtime fans. Here is a guide to all 41 characters connected to Sunrise on the Reaping. Light spoilers ahead!

At the heart of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is a younger Haymitch Abernathy, portrayed by Joseph Zada. This Haymitch is far removed from the bitter, alcoholic mentor audiences know from the original films. He is idealistic, hopeful and in love, until another tribute is killed while attempting to escape. That tragedy leaves Haymitch with no choice but to enter the Games himself.

His situation becomes even more horrifying because his Games are part of a Quarter Quell, a special edition held every 25 years. For the 50th Hunger Games, the Capitol selects four tributes from every district—two boys and two girls—creating a field of 48 competitors instead of the usual 24. Haymitch ultimately survives and wins, a fact already revealed in the original story. The real question is how he manages it, and the answer forms one of the franchise’s most devastating origin stories.

Mckenna Grace plays Maysilee Donner, one of Haymitch’s fellow tributes, and briefly appears as Maysilee’s twin, Merrilee, as well. Maysilee has a sharp edge and can be cruel, but the arena forces her and Haymitch into an unexpected partnership. She is also crucial to the franchise’s history: Maysilee originally owns the mockingjay pin that later becomes a powerful emblem of Katniss’ rebellion. Her closest friend in District 12 is also the future mother of Katniss Everdeen.

Ben Wang plays Wyatt Callow, the second male tribute chosen from District 12. Quiet and guarded, Wyatt is far more observant than he first appears. He becomes a valuable ally to Haymitch and the other District 12 tributes, partly because his family has spent years wagering on the Hunger Games and understands how the Capitol’s spectacle works.

Molly McCann portrays Louella McCoy, the youngest and most good-natured member of District 12’s group. Louella has long called Haymitch her “sweetheart,” thanks to her enormous crush on him. Before the Games officially begin, however, a horrifying event leaves the Capitol in need of a replacement tribute. The details are best discovered in the film.

Louella McCoy and Lou Lou are not the same person. Played by Iona Bell, Lou Lou receives her nickname from Haymitch and is forced to take Louella’s place in the Games. She functions as an eerie substitute rather than a simple replacement, making her one of the most disturbing figures in the Hunger Games universe. The film also leaves open the possibility that she comes from District 11.

Knowing that survival will depend on cooperation, Haymitch tries to gather allies before entering the arena. Among them is Ampert Latier, played by Percy Daggs IV. Small in stature but exceptionally intelligent, Ampert is the son of a former victor and has been selected as punishment aimed at the Latier family during the Second Quarter Quell. Fans of Veronica Mars may recognize the family connection: Daggs is the son of Percy Daggs III, who played Wallace Fennell in the series.

With 48 tributes competing, not every contestant will receive equal attention, but several make a strong impression. Panache Baker of District 1, played by Jhaleil Swaby, is labeled a “hothead” by Wyatt Callow while also being regarded as a favorite with Capitol viewers. He competes alongside Silka Sharp, played by Laura Marcus, a glamorous and particularly ruthless tribute from the wealthy district.

Sky Frances plays Maritte, District 4’s standout tribute and a skilled trident wielder, fitting for a district built around fishing. Rada Rae portrays Wellie from District 6, a deeply anxious and easily frightened competitor. Ringina, played by Tatyana Muzondo, comes from District 7 and treats Haymitch with unusual friendliness despite their opposing positions. District 9’s Kerna, portrayed by Alina Reid, is emotional, compassionate and painfully vulnerable.

Kerna is joined in District 9 by Clayton, played by Salimou Thiam. The remaining tributes in this group include Buck from District 10, portrayed by John Doeble, and Hull from District 11, played by Kaine Buffonge.

In the original films, Plutarch Heavensbee is a seemingly loyal but secretly subversive Game Maker, played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Jesse Plemons takes over the role in Sunrise on the Reaping. Although Plutarch occupies a privileged position within the Capitol, his actions make him an important and unexpected source of assistance for Haymitch.

Replacing Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket is no small task, especially when the character’s extravagant Capitol fashion is involved. Elle Fanning plays the younger Effie in Sunrise on the Reaping, bringing her own take to the stylist and chaperone. Effie develops a generally warm relationship with Haymitch and becomes responsible for his styling, but her unwavering loyalty to the Capitol quickly creates tension between them.

Following a voice role in Andy Serkis’ 2025 adaptation of Animal Farm, Sunrise on the Reaping marks Kieran Culkin’s major return to the big screen since A Real Pain, the Jesse Eisenberg-directed film that earned Culkin an Oscar. In this new movie, Culkin plays Caesar Flickerman, the flamboyant television host once portrayed by Stanley Tucci. Caesar is also related to Lucky Flickerman, played by Jason Schwartzman in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Ralph Fiennes becomes the third actor to portray Coriolanus Snow. Donald Sutherland played the older Snow in the original films until his death in 2024, while Tom Blyth portrayed the character’s younger years in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. In Sunrise on the Reaping, Fiennes shows Snow confronting his advancing age as he embraces even harsher forms of tyranny. The story also explores his efforts to build resistance to poison, a detail that explains the bloody sores around his mouth seen in the original series.

Drusilla Sickle, the Capitol chaperone regularly assigned to District 12, is described by Haymitch as a woman whose face has been surgically pulled tight by rows of decorative-looking pins. Glenn Close plays the character in the film, hidden beneath extensive makeup and prosthetics designed to capture Drusilla’s unnerving Capitol beauty procedures. Her relationship with the tributes is anything but peaceful, and she frequently clashes with them.

Tony and Emmy winner Billy Porter joins the franchise as Magno Stift, the Capitol stylist assigned to District 12. Magno is also Drusilla Sickle’s legal husband, though their marriage is marked by the same combative energy that defines their professional relationship. Haymitch’s first description of Magno makes clear that he is impossible to overlook:

“Magno Stift’s sun-leathered skin has been tattooed with a snakeskin pattern. He wears a long shirt made of metal diamonds and no visible pants. His sandals lace all the way up to his pelvis, and from each of his ears dangle tiny, living garter snakes that twist and turn in misery.”

Magno later misses important moments in the Games after licking toads and slipping into a hallucination-filled state. He has already embarrassed himself by mistakenly sending the tributes to their televised interviews in training clothes. Even if his screen time is limited, Billy Porter’s larger-than-life presence should make Magno one of the film’s most memorable Capitol figures.

After a brief appearance in the hit Hulu series “Tell Me Lies,” Iris Apatow — sister of “Euphoria” star Maude and daughter of actress Leslie Mann and director and writer Judd Apatow — will show up in Panem as Proserpina Trinket, Effie’s younger sister. As a member of Haymitch’s prep team, Proserpina helps her sister, well, prepare him for the pre-arena “festivities.”

Proserpina Trinket isn’t the only prep team member we meet through Haymitch — she’s aided by her fellow Capitol denizen Vitus, played in the film by Edvin Ryding. Vitus is on the periphery of Haymitch’s story for the entire narrative, and if Ryding looks familiar, it’s because he plays Swedish Amphibious Corps member Erik Sundqvist in “28 Years Later” (marking a “reunion” of sorts between Ryding and Ralph Fiennes, who plays Dr. Ian Kelson in that film.)

There are a few other Capitol residents who play small but important roles in Haymitch’s story in “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.” Hersilia, played by Sandra Förster, works as a trainer to help the tributes prepare for battle, and Jax Guerrero’s Tibby is an overly helpful transportation officer.

One of the most tragic figures in “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” is Beetee Latier, a former District 3 victor who’s played by Kelvin Harrison Jr. in this prequel film and who works as a mentor to new tributes. (In the original movies, he’s played by Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright, who brings a quiet, pensive energy to the role.) So why is he so tragic? After a failed attempt to rebel against the Capitol, Beetee is severely punished and is forced to watch his own son, the aforementioned Ampert, compete in the Second Quarter Quell. Despite knowing that he’ll almost certainly watch his child perish, Beetee is an invaluable asset to Haymitch … and even comes up with a potentially dangerous plan to interfere with the Games themselves.

Beetee isn’t the only former victor turned mentor who works with Haymitch to prepare him for the super-dangerous arena. Another is Wiress, who’s portrayed by Amanda Plummer in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and is played by “Stranger Things” veteran Maya Hawke in “Sunrise on the Reaping.” Wiress, who competed in the previous year’s Games and won them by utilizing a field of reflective surfaces to confuse her more physically powerful opponents, is brilliant — and instrumental in Beetee’s scheme.

The final major mentor we meet in “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” is Mags Flanagan, played by “Sex and the City” standout Lynn Cohen (who passed away in 2020) in the original films with Lili Taylor taking over the role in the prequel. Hailing from District 4, Mags is one of the older victors — it’s not clear which games she won, but it’s either the 11th, 12th, or 13th go-around — but that doesn’t diminish her wisdom.

A young widow whose husband was killed in a mining accident (District 12 is the mining district, which is also how Katniss loses her own father years later) and mother to four children, Willamae Abernathy, Haymitch’s mother, runs a tight ship. Played by Kara Tointon in “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,” she’s also devastated to see her oldest child be randomly chosen to compete in the Second Quarter Quell after the original tribute tries to escape the premises.

We don’t actually meet either of Haymitch’s two sisters during the narrative of “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,” but we do meet his beloved younger brother Sid Abernathy, played by Smylie Bradwell. In the book, Haymitch tells Sid “‘you’re twice as smart as me and ten times as brave'” right as Haymitch is “reaped,” leaving Sid in tears in Willamae’s arms as Haymitch departs for the Capitol.

Because Katniss’ father Burdock Everdeen dies in a mining accent years before the narrative of “The Hunger Games” begins, we’ve never seen him on screen … but in “Sunrise on the Reaping,” he’s played by Scot Greenan. Burdock is one of Haymitch’s close friends and supports him before and after the games in District 12, even as Haymitch suffers unimaginable losses.

Now that we’ve covered some of the more major District 12 players, let’s go over a brief list of the tertiary players. Grace Ackary will appear in “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” as Asterid March, best friend to Maysilee Donner and Burdock Everdeen’s future wife (meaning, yes, that she grows up to mother Katniss), with Ackary taking over the role from original actress Paula Malcolmson. Jeffrey Hallman is also playing a character that was originated by a different actor elsewhere in the Hunger Games franchise — Clerk Carmine, a Baird relative of Lenore Dove who’s portrayed by Konstantin Taffet in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.”

We’ve obliquely referenced Haymitch’s … unconventional reaping, and it’s all thanks to Woodbine Chance (Serafin Mishiev), whose name is initially chosen and whose escape results not just in his death at the hands of Peacekeepers, but Haymitch being chosen in his place. Elsewhere, there’s local liquor brewer Hattie Meeney (Melody Chikakane Brown), with whom Haymitch works even though the practice isn’t strictly legal, Haymitch’s friend Blair (Devon Singletary), and Louella’s father Mr. McCoy (Jefferson White).

Even though the events of “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” predate the births of Katniss Everdeen and her eventual partner Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), both Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence are set to reprise their roles in the prequel (according to a December 2025 report in The Hollywood Reporter). So … how will that work?

Whether or not Woody Harrelson will also join the party is, as of this writing, anybody’s guess — but when you consider that the entirety of “Sunrise on the Reaping” is designed to explain why Haymitch is so surly and traumatized by the time he coaches Katniss and Peeta through their first games, it seems entirely possible that we’ll see a scene of an older Haymitch sharing this story with his two successors. It’s been decades since we saw Lawrence and Hutcherson as Katniss and Peeta, and it’ll be pretty great to watch these two talented performers step back into roles that earned them worldwide fame and acclaim.

“The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” hits theaters on November 20, 2026.