Maya Hawke has been cast as Wiress in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel Sunrise on the Reaping. The Stranger Things star will portray the District 3 victor and 3rd Quarter Quell tribute, a role previously played by Amanda Plummer in the original film series.
The prequel follows 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy during his time in the arena. Wiress thus serves as a mentor for the District 12 tributes. During this period, District 12 lacks victors aside from Lucy Gray Baird, who appeared in Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the Coriolanus Snow prequel. This new prequel is therefore set in the middle of the existing two timelines, and 24 years before the franchise previously headlined by Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, and will dig into an earlier account.
Hawke will join several other notable characters, including Kelvin Harrison Jr. from Mufasa: The Lion King and Waves. Harrison has been cast as Beetee, a role Jeffrey Wright played in the original series. The prequel reveals that Beetee’s 12-year-old son Ampert gets selected for the games and Beetee must mentor his son as punishment for his clever victory in his own Hunger Games. Francis Lawrence returns to direct this prequel after steering every film except the first Hunger Games. Also, Joseph Zada takes on the role of young Haymitch, originally played by Woody Harrelson. Whitney Peak portrays his girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird, a descendant of the Covey. Jesse Plemons will play Plutarch Heavensbee, the future head gamemaker previously portrayed by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Maya Hawke Speaks About The Fifth and Final Season of Stranger Things
Before obtaining her role as Wiress in Sunrise on the Reaping, Hawke slayed Demogorgons and served ice cream in Stranger Things as Robin Bockley. The show, which had wrapped up production for its fifth and final season in December 2024, had Hawke and the creators of the film sharing their experiences after filming the supersized finale.
During a 2024 episode of the Podcrushed podcast, Hawke described the ambitious scope of Stranger Things’ Season 5. In her words, “We’re making basically eight movies,” she shared, “Because the episodes are very long… our showrunners, Matt and Ross Duffer, take a lot of responsibility. They have an amazing team of writers, but they’re very involved. They write a lot and they are very intense and serious about the quality of the continued writing, and so it takes a long time to write each season, and a long time to shoot them.”
Ross Duffer himself, as per Entertainment Weekly, revealed that they spent a full year filming the season and accumulated over 650 hours of footage. He likened the season to eight blockbuster movies. Matt added that the filming was very intense and ended tearfully for the actors.
Sunrise on the Reaping will come to theatres starting November 20, 2026, while Stranger Things 5 has no confirmed premiere date yet, but is expected to debut in 2025.
 |
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping |
|---|---|
| Cast | Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Maya Hawke (as Wiress) |
| Release Date | November 20, 2026 |
| Stream On | To be announced (likely theatrical release first) |
| Directed by | Francis Lawrence |
| Produced by | Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson |
| Based On | Novel by Suzanne Collins (upcoming prequel) |
| Plot Summary | Set 24 years before the original series, the film follows the events of the 50th Hunger Games—also known as the 2nd Quarter Quell. |
| Musical Elements | Composer to be announced |
| Current Status | In production |
Follow Us
