EXCLUSIVE: Mckenna Grace is set join the cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping as Maysilee Donner, Haymitch Abernathy’s fellow District 12 Tribute. Joseph Zada is set to play Haymitch, with Whitney Peak playing Haymitch’s girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird.
The film adaptation of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will be released on November 20, 2026. Francis Lawrence will direct from a screenplay adaptation by Billy Ray, based on the bestselling novel by Suzanne Collins. Color Force’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson will produce. Cameron MacConomy will executive produce. The five films in the franchise have taken in more than $3.3 billion at the global box office.
Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien are overseeing the project for Lionsgate. Robert Melnik negotiated the deals for the studio.
Like every part in this latest installment of the hit series, the role of Donner was highly sought as reps around town described it as the closest thing to the Katniss role that Jennifer Lawrence made famous in the previous films.
Published on March 18, Sunrise on the Reaping sold 1.5 million copies in its first week on sale in the U.S., UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The 1.2 million copies sold in the U.S. are twice the first-week sales of Collins’ first prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and three times the first-week sales of the third book in the original series, 2010’s Mockingjay.
Sunrise on the Reaping revisits the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.
In addition to her many other credits, Grace starred in the blockbusters Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. She is currently starring in the adaptation of the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel Regretting You for Paramount. Upcoming, she will also appear in the lead role of Blumhouse’s Kiss of Death as well as Blumhouse’s sequel to Five Nights at Freddy’s; Scream 7 with Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox; and as part of an all-star ensemble led by Diane Lane in Lionsgate’s Anniversary.
Grace is represented by CAA, Entertainment 360, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox.
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