While the cast of Sunrise on the Reaping has been tasked with telling a very heavy story, when the cameras aren’t rolling, they appear to be having a silly, goofy time. From time to time, McKenna Grace, Joseph Zada or one of their co-stars will post about bonding during production, and on more than one occasion, they’ve been wearing matching bear shirts in them. Now, the Regretting You actress would like to set the record straight about who really bought those iconic shirts.
Now, back on August 1, Joseph Zada, who is paying Haymitch in Sunrise on the Reaping, posted his first TikTok on the account josephzadainabearshirt. It went viral, and it showed him, Grace, who is playing Maysilee, and Lou Lou actress Iona Bell all wearing the same bear shirts. Since then, Grace has posted about the shirt too, and so have other cast members. And when CinemaBlend’s Jeff McCobb interviewed her for her project on the 2025 movie schedule, Regretting You, he asked about the viral wardrobe.
In response, she was quick to make it hilariously clear that the lead of Sunrise on the Reaping was not responsible for the silly bear shirts, and that she was the one who purchased them, explaining:
You know what’s BS? Is that now they’re like ‘Joseph Zada’s bear shirts.’ And it’s like, ‘That’s such bull.’ I bought those for everybody.
You heard it here, folks, McKenna Grace is responsible for those iconic bear shirts! And, not long after that first video was posted, she uploaded a fun TikTok to her account that featured the bear shirts too. Take a look:
Notably, the three actors in this video are playing three of the four District 12 tributes in Sunrise on the Reaping, which will follow Haymitch’s journey to becoming the victor of the 50th Hunger Games, which had double the number of tributes a typical game has. However, one of their tribute actors is missing from that TikTok.
Ben Wang, who plays Wyatt Callow, wasn’t in either video, and in Grace’s TikTok, she called it out with the hashtag “#BenWangComeHomeWeMissYou.” However, have no fear, he does have a bear shirt and has been getting in on the fun (even if he forgot said bear shirt), as the Maysilee actress told us:
First, I went and bought all those bear shirts for everybody. I bought them for Ben [Wang]. Ben has a bear shirt. He forgot it in Spain. Ben has a bear shirt. I bought one for Molly [McCann]. I got them for everybody. And now they’re like ‘Joseph Zada’s bear shirts.’
To quote Grace’s TikTok bio, she is “also wearing a bear shirt” as much as Zada, and as she made very clear here, she’s the mastermind behind the cast getting them. She told us more about that as well, as she explained why she loves them:
And I’m like, ‘This is BS.’ I bought those bear shirts for Joe and Iona [Bell] and Ben to all wear together. And now we’ve bought more of them for the whole cast. It’s just because I have an obsession with really cheesy-looking animal shirts, and I thought that it’d be great for all of us to match, and now we all do. It’s great.
It really is great! Considering how heavy the content of this upcoming book-to-screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ novel is, it’s nice to see the cast having a lot of fun behind the scenes.
Now, I need a full cast photo in these bear shirts, because I’m dying to know if Ralph Fiennes, who is playing President Snow, has one. I also need to see Elle Fanning, who is taking over Effie Trinket, in the t-shirt as well.
Thankfully, there’s plenty of time for that dream to become reality, because Sunrise on the Reaping won’t premiere on the 2026 movie schedule until November 20. And in the meantime, I bet we’ll get more fun content from the cast as they make the movie. So, while we wait for that, make sure to check out their old bear shirt videos, give McKenna Grace the credit she deserves as new movie, Regretting You, in theaters on October 24.