Ralph Fiennes scores major role in new Hunger Games film
Los Angeles, California - Conclave star Ralph Fiennes has been cast as the villain President Coriolanus Snow in the new Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping.
The 62-year-old English actor will take on the role of Snow in the film adaptation of the fifth book in the franchise.
The book was published in March 2025 and is a prequel to the original trilogy, which was made into the popular films starring Jennifer Lawrence.
The new film follows a young Haymitch Abernathy, one of the few Hunger Games winners from the same district as the original trilogy's protagonist Katniss Everdeen, played by Lawrence.
Played by Zombieland actor Woody Harrelson, Haymitch is first introduced to readers in the original trilogy as the alcoholic mentor to tributes Katniss and Peeta Mellark, played by Bridge to Terabithia's Josh Hutcherson, before they are sent off to fight to the death in a televised arena.
The prequel follows Haymitch as he is drawn to fight in the 50th Hunger Games, a violent entertainment set up to maintain control in the fictional country of Panem, and faces double the amount of tributes, two boys and two girls, who are selected from each district.
Next installment of Hunger Games series due to hit theaters this year
The film is based on the series written by American author Suzanne Collins and will be directed by Francis Lawrence.
Lawrence also directed the Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part I, and Mockingjay Part II films which starred Jennifer Lawrence alongside Hutcherson and Australian actor Liam Hemsworth.
Francis Lawrence also directed the most recent film The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, based on the prequel published in 2020, which starred West Side Story star Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth, who played a young Snow before he became president.
Fiennes is best known for portraying Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and for playing Amon Goeth in Schindler's List, for which he won the 1994 supporting actor Bafta award.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping is due to hit cinemas on November 20, 2026.
Cover photo: VALERIE MACON / AFP