New 'Hunger Games' Prequel 'Sunrise on the Reaping' Has Found Its Young Haymitch — and It's Australian Actor Joseph Zada
This 'Invisible Boys' star will follow in Woody Harrelson's footsteps in the big-screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins' latest book.
Fresh from starring in page-to-screen Australian series Invisible Boys, Aussie actor Joseph Zada is headed to the arena. Hunger Games fans, meet young Haymitch. When the franchise's latest book Sunrise on the Reaping becomes its next movie — with the latter due to hit cinemas in 2026 — Zada will be in its key role.
Two crucial pieces of casting have been announced for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping: Zada following in Woody Harrelson's (Fly Me to the Moon) footsteps as Haymitch Abernathy, plus Whitney Peak (Gossip Girl) as the character's girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird. Together, they'll be helping take the saga back to 24 years before Abernathy met Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence, No Hard Feelings) in the first The Hunger Games novel.
The new film couldn't be in the works if Suzanne Collins hadn't entered the arena again, of course, stepping back into Panem and The Hunger Games' past — and into the tale of a well-known character from her initial three books in the dystopian franchise — with the saga's second prequel. After the author first went down that route with 2020's The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, her next jump backwards hit bookstores in March 2025.
When the novel was announced, naturally a film was as well. It might've taken three years for The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes to become a movie, but Sunrise on the Reaping is hitting the big screen just a year after the book made its way shelves. This time, the focus is on the Second Quarter Quell, with Haymitch winning those games — and Sunrise on the Reaping's narrative kicking off on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games.
Harrelson portrayed Haymitch in 2012–15 movies The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part I and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part II, with filmmaker Francis Lawrence helming every one of them since Catching Fire — and also doing the same on The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. He'll be back in the director's chair on Sunrise on the Reaping.
For Zada, this isn't his only big post-Invisible Boys project. He's also treading where James Dean once did, playing the same character as the late, great icon in a new version of East of Eden opposite Florence Pugh (We Live in Time), Mike Faist (Challengers) and Christopher Abbott (Wolf Man) — and he has the page-to-screen adaptation of We Were Liars also on the way, hitting streaming in June 2025.
There's obviously no trailer yet for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, but you can check out the trailer for all of the past Hunger Games movies below:
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will reach cinemas on Friday, November 20, 2026 in the US — which will likely mean Thursday, November 19, 2026 Down Under. We'll update you with more details when they're announced.
Via Variety. Top image: David Dare Parker, Invisible Boys. Hunger Games images: Murray Close.
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