McKenna Grace has officially joined the cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, taking on the role of Maysilee Donner—one of the tributes from District 12, and a key character alongside young Haymitch Abernathy.
Set 24 years before Katniss Everdeen ever volunteered as tribute, Sunrise on the Reaping dives into the harrowing 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. The prequel novel by Suzanne Collins hit shelves on March 18 and explores how Haymitch, then just 16, was thrust into a brutal version of the Games—this time with double the number of tributes.
Newcomer Joseph Zada will portray the younger version of Haymitch, a role originally played by Woody Harrelson in the original franchise. Whitney Peak also stars as Lenore Dove Baird, Haymitch’s girlfriend, while Grace joins the ensemble as Maysilee, a fellow District 12 tribute with a deeply emotional arc.
Sunrise on the Reaping is set to premiere in theaters on November 20, 2026, with longtime franchise director Francis Lawrence returning to helm the film. The screenplay is written by Billy Ray, with Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force producing. Cameron MacConomy will serve as executive producer.
The new installment follows 2023’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which took place even earlier in the timeline, exploring a young Coriolanus Snow and featuring performances by Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth.
McKenna Grace, no stranger to major franchises, is best known for her roles in Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Coming up, she stars in the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s Regretting You for Paramount, along with a stacked lineup including Blumhouse’s Kiss of Death, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Scream 7, and Lionsgate’s Anniversary.
Source: Variety
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