Fan Castings For The New Hunger Games Movie Ignore 1 Important Haymitch Book Detail

Summary

Casting young Haymitch for Sunrise on the Reaping movie presents a challenge due to discrepancies with the books’ description.
Fan-cast actors like Tanner Buchanan and Tom Glynn-Carney resemble Woody Harrelson, but may not match Haymitch’s Seam look.
Lionsgate must decide between staying true to the books’ themes about classism or casting an actor who resembles Harrelson.

A new actor will have to be cast to play young Haymitch in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, but common fan castings reveal Lionsgate’s challenge in this task. The upcoming Hunger Games movie will be set during the 50th Hunger Games, the year District 12’s Haymitch Abernathy was victor. This is, of course, exciting, and Hunger Games fans are already abuzz about who should play the 16-year-old version of Woody Harrelson’s character. The problem is that many of the suggested actors don’t work with the books’ description of Haymitch

Two actors have been frequently fan-cast to play Haymitch in the Sunrise on the Reaping movie. The first is Cobra Kai‘s Tanner Buchanan, who has already shown eagerness to take on the role if he had the opportunity. The second is Tom Glynn-Carney, who has grown increasingly popular while playing Aegon II Targaryen in HBO’s House of the Dragon. Either of these actors could do a phenomenal job, and it’s clear why fans have selected them. Both Buchanan and Glynn-Carney have light hair and a similar facial structure to Harrelson, but this might not be the best way to go.

Katniss from The Hunger Games with Coriolanus Snow from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping Release Date, Story, Updates & Everything We Know

Suzanne Collins has announced details about the upcoming novel in the Hunger Games series, which will be titled Sunrise on the Reaping.

Haymitch Has The “Seam Look” In The Hunger Games Books

District 12’s Seam Citizens Had A Notable Look

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), and Lucy Gray (Rachel Zegler) in Hunger Games movies — Custom Image by Cooper Hood

While Harrelson was a phenomenal Haymitch, he didn’t match the description of the character. In The Hunger Games novels, Katniss mentions several times that Haymitch has the “Seam look,” which entails black hair, olive skin, and grey eyes (like Katniss and Gale). District 12 citizens from the Seam were easily distinguishable from those from town, like Peeta, who were often light-skinned with blonde hair. While this may seem like a minor detail, the appearances of District 12’s citizens were important to The Hunger Games themes, and this will be even more important in Sunrise on the Reaping.

Why The Appearance Of District 12 Kids Was Important In The Hunger Games Books

The Divide Within District 12 Explores Classism

In the Hunger Games books, there is a significant divide between the District 12 citizens who live in the impoverished Seam and those who live in town and run businesses (rather than working in the mines). While neither group is well-fed, there is a noted difference in class. Seam laborers were far more likely to die of starvation and were notoriously short-lived as Hunger Games tributes. The town citizens, on the other hand, had just enough food and money to get by. This divide resulted in significant prejudice between the two groups, exacerbated by their visual differences.

These details create a subtle but impactful message, but the Sunrise on the Reaping movie would lose this if it casts based on Harrelson’s appearance.

In the first Hunger Games book, the fact that Katniss and Peeta were from these two different worlds within District 12 was significant. This is paralleled in the 50th Hunger Games, where Haymitch, a Seam boy, allies with District 12’s Maysilee Donner, a blonde-haired, light-skinned town girl. This is again reflected, to a point, in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, where Lucy Gray, who fits the Seam description, is paired with Coriolanus Snow. These details create a subtle but impactful message, but the Sunrise on the Reaping movie would lose this if it casts based on Harrelson’s appearance.

Sunrise On The Reaping Will Have To Choose Between The Hunger Games Books & Movies

Neither Answer Is Perfect

If Lionsgate wants its Sunrise on the Reaping story to parallel that of The Hunger Games and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, it will cast a young Haymitch based on the books’ description of his character. The selected actor would then look similar to Katniss and Lucy Gray, creating a commonality between the victors of these three Hunger Games stories. However, since Harrelson was so memorable as Haymitch, casting a young actor who looks nothing like him could be a problem. Thus, Sunrise on the Reaping is already in a bit of a pickle.

Ultimately, the upcoming Hunger Games movie must choose where its continuity will be sourced. Buchanan and Glynn-Carney, or another actor who looks like Harrelson, would surely do a great job in the role, and there are other ways that the Sunrise on the Reaping movie can draw on the continued themes of the franchise. Still, it would be a shame to see the nuanced details of the Hunger Games books lost. It’s a “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” kind of situation and only time will tell the decision that Lionsgate will make.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
releases in theaters on November 20, 2026.