Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping

Evanne Evans, 19 May 2025

Ralph Fiennes has played many dark and dangerous villains in his career to date, including Goeth in Schindler's List, Chef Slowik in The Menu, and “he that shall not be named” Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies.

Fortunately for his budding fans, he is cast to play another villain in November 2025. This was announced by Lionsgate Entertainment and published in Empire Magazine earlier this year: “Fiennes is going back to bad in a big way to play President Snow in Francis Lawrence's upcoming The Hunger Games prequel Sunrise On The Reaping.” The role was formally played by Donald Sutherland who sadly assed away at age 88. Producer Nina Jacobson said, “We wanted to honor Donald Sutherland by having one of this generation’s greatest actors play President Snow 24 years before Katniss Everdeen entered the arena.”

According to Audible’s blog, Sunrise on the Reaping is a 2025 dystopian novel written by American author Suzanne Collins and the second prequel novel to the original The Hunger Games trilogy, following The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020). The movie is “bringing us back 24 years before Book 1 to the 50th annual Hunger Games, a Quarter Quell in which twice as many tributes will be taken than usual.”