Ralph Fiennes cast as President Snow in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

Ralph Fiennes is taking on yet another major villain role. This time, he will be portraying the ruthless Panem dictator President Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, directed by Francis Lawrence and based on Suzanne Collins' eponymous novel which was published recently.

He joins previously announced cast members Joseph Zada and Whitney Peak who play Haymitch Abernathy and his girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird, Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Maya Hawke as Wiress, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee, Lili Taylor as Mags and Ben Wang as Wyatt.

Fiennes takes on the role from the late Donald Sutherland who played the Panem leader in the first four original films. Tom Blyth starred as Snow's younger version in the 2023 prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

Set 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games during the Second Quarter Quell (50th Hunger Games), it will centre on a 12-year-old Haymitch Abernathy, portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the original Hunger Games movies and how he competes in the games with 48 children as tributes.

Francis Lawrence has helmed every Hunger Games installment since 2012’s Catching Fire. Billy Ray, who has co-written the original trilogy, is writing the screenplay for the film.

The upcoming film is being bankrolled by Color Force’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson. Cameron MacConomy is the executive producer. It is slated for a November 20, 2026 release.

Fiennes, who was last seen in Edward Berger’s critically acclaimed, Oscar and Golden Globe- nominated Conclave, will next be seen in Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later.