Francis Lawrence’s Hunger Games prequel, with Joseph Zada as the young Haymitch Abernathy, is listed for a London fan screening ahead of its release in November.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping holds its London fan screening at Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush on Wednesday 28 October 2026. Its cast and director are expected on the carpet.
Joseph Zada plays Haymitch Abernathy at sixteen, the role Woody Harrelson played in the earlier films. Born in Sydney in 2005, he is the son of Jeremy Cumpston.
Zada played Johnny Sinclair in We Were Liars and Cal Trask in East of Eden. He was cast as Haymitch in April 2025.
Francis Lawrence directs, as he has every film in the series since Catching Fire in 2013. He came up through music videos before Constantine and I Am Legend.
Billy Ray and Michael Lesslie adapted Suzanne Collins’s 2025 novel. It is set 24 years before the first film, when the 50th Games, a Quarter Quell, demand twice the usual number of tributes from every district. Lionsgate opens it in cinemas and IMAX on Friday 20 November.
Around Zada are Jesse Plemons as the young Plutarch Heavensbee, Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket and Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman. Glenn Close plays Drusilla Sickle, with Mckenna Grace and Whitney Peak.