Kelvin Harrison Jr Set For New Hunger Games Prequel

It seems the cast of the new Hunger Games film has swollen again, with news that Kelvin Harrison Jr. is set to the film as a character fans will be very familiar with.

Variety reports (via The InSneider) that Harrison Jr. is set to play Beetee Latier in The Hunger Games: Sunshine on the Reaping, a role originated by Oscar Nominee Jeffrey Wright in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mockingjay 1 & 2. Latier is the champion of the 34th Hunger Games and father of Ampert Latier, Tribute in the 50th Hunger Games.

Sunrise on the Reaping has already been busy setting up its cast, with Joseph Zada and Whitney Peak cast as Haymitch Abernathy (previously played by Woody Harrelson) and Lenore Dove Baird, in the film, with McKenna Grace as Maysilee Donner and Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee (previously played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) in the new film.

Harrison Jr. most recently voiced the role of Taka in Mufasa: The Lion King.

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The book, by Suzanne Collins, opens with the young Plutarch Heavensbee in District 12, capturing the reaping of the Tributes there. Published on March 18, the novel 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.”

Francis Lawrence, who has directed all but the original film, will be back to direct with Billy Ray returning on scripting duties.

Rumours continue to swell that Emma Thompson (as Drusilla Sickle), Ralph Fiennes (as Snow), Kieran Culkin (as Flickerman), and Elle Fanning (as Effie) may also be part of the cast, though unconfirmed as of now.

The Hunger Games: Sunshine on the Reaping is set for cinemas on November 20th, 2026.