The cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is quickly coming together, and Deadline reports that the latest addition to the prequel movie will be Lili Taylor. She will play Mags, the former Hunger Games champion who volunteered for the 75th Hunger Games seen in Catching Fire. In the new film, she will serve as a mentor to the District 12 tributes, which includes a young Haymitch Abernathy.
Sunrise on the Reaping will star Joseph Zada (Invisible Boys) as Haymitch, Whitney Peak (Hocus Pocus 2) as Lenore Dove Baird, Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire) as Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons (Civil War) as Plutarch Heavensbee, Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Mufasa: The Lion King) as Beetee, and Maya Hawke (Stranger Things) as Wiress.
Lynn Cohen played Mags in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and sadly passed away in 2020.
Francis Lawrence, who has helmed every installment of the franchise except for the first movie, will direct Sunrise on the Reaping from a script by Billy Ray based on the novel by Suzanne Collins. The story is set 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games and starts on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games when 16-year-old Haymitch is unexpectedly chosen. In honour of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes and sent into a battle for their lives.
The film is the second prequel of the franchise, following The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes which centers on a young Coriolanus Snow. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will hit theaters on November 20, 2026.
Taylor has plenty of upcoming projects, including the second season of Daredevil: Born Again. Details on her character are sparse, but it’s been said that she will play “a political foe for Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk.” Production on the new season is already underway in New York, with the series set to return in March 2026. She will also be seen in Fear Street: Prom Queen, which will debut on Netflix on May 23rd.
