After landing his third Oscar nomination for Conclave, Ralph Fiennes has come aboard for the role of the villainous President Snow, ruthless dictator of Panem, in Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, based on the bestselling novel by Suzanne Collins.
Fiennes inherits the role from Donald Sutherland, who passed away in June 2024, aged 88. “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,” said producer Nina Jacobson of Color Force. “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.”
Published March 18, the latest installment in Collins’ dystopian YA book series revisits the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. The story centers on 16-year-old Haymitch (Joseph Zada), a clever and resourceful boy from District 12, who’s unexpectedly chosen for this edition of the games, which will feature a deadly twist: twice the number of tributes, with 48 children sent into the arena to battle for their lives.
Others in the cast include Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee, Maya Hawke as Wiress, Lili Taylor as Mags, and Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow.
Franchise vet Francis Lawrence is directing from a script by Billy Ray. Color Force’s Jacobson and Brad Simpson are producing, with Cameron MacConomy exec producing. Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien are overseeing the project for the studio and Robert Melnik negotiated deals for Lionsgate. Slated for release on November 20, 2026, the new film comes on the heels of five installments that have grossed more than $3.3 billion worldwide.
Upcoming, Fiennes will be seen in Danny Boyle’s highly anticipated zombie flick 28 Years Later and Nicholas Hytner’s film The Choral. He is repped by CAA and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern in the U.S. and 42MP in the UK.
From Deadline.com