Although it’s not set to debut on the 2025 film schedule, the casting course of for Dawn on the Reaping is a big occasion happening on this web page of the calendar. Followers of The Starvation Video games have been following quite intently, whereas additionally having their very own dream candidates for key roles on this Haymitch Abernathy-centric prequel.
And whereas the position of President Snow has lastly been forged with an A-lister I’ll at all times present up for, there’s an enormous missed alternative that I’ve to speak about – as I nonetheless sort of want it occurred.
Ralph Fiennes Provides The Starvation Video games To His ‘Infamous YA Villain’ Trophy Case
I actually can not fault the logic that noticed the powers that be casting Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes as the following iteration of President Coriolanus Snow. What’s loopy is that THR’s announcement of this Starvation Video games information has really landed on the three yr anniversary of actor Tom Blyth touchdown this very position in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes forged. Whereas commemorating this new transfer, producer Nina Jacobson provided the next assertion:
We needed to honor Donald Sutherland by having one among this era’s best actors play President Snow 24 years earlier than Katniss Everdeen entered the world. Working with Ralph has been on my bucket record since he traumatized me for all times in Schindler’s Listing. It’s genuinely a thrill to welcome him to The Starvation Video games.
Naturally, every time somebody mentions “Ralph Fiennes” and “YA” in the identical sentence, photographs of his portrayal of Harry Potter’s Voldemort come flooding to thoughts. That’s with good cause, too, as the person used these abilities that made him a chilling Nazi officer in Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust drama on a literary determine that swims in some very related circles.
So casting by means of popular culture trauma is certainly a strong transfer, particularly with this Conclave star. That being mentioned, I’ve to facet with the Starvation Video games followers for a second, as Dawn on the Reaping has misplaced yet one more prime alternative to honor households within the performing arts.
I Nonetheless Marvel How Kiefer Sutherland Would Have Performed As President Snow
I get that nepotistic casting isn’t at all times the reply, and I must restate the truth that I nonetheless love Ralph Fiennes as the brand new President Snow. However simply as loyal revolutionaries of Panem flooded TikTok hoping for Cooper Hoffman to succeed his father because the youthful Plutarch Heavensby in Dawn on the Reaping, I used to be proper there with them in casting Kiefer Sutherland as a youthful model of his father’s menacing politician.
As soon as once more, the actor that landed the gig isn’t a foul alternative, particularly with Jesse Plemons taking part in younger Plutarch on this second prequel. However contemplating that Hoffman is one other consummate performer who’s shone brightly in an Alex Garland battle story, it’s one other risk that’ll dwell on in my head.
Even with my fan casting mind warmed up, the explanations for not casting Cooper Hoffman or Kiefer Sutherland are simply as legitimate. Nobody would need both of them to be burdened by residing as much as their father’s legacies; with Hoffman beforehand discussing these pressures in his upcoming Stephen King movie The Lengthy Stroll. It’s an unfair idea, as each males are exemplary performers in their very own proper – which circles proper again to why they had been fan forged within the first place.
I’ll say, for somebody who’s by no means been an intense fan of The Starvation Video games, Ralph Fiennes’ casting as President Snow sort of conjures up me to lastly watch The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. There’s loads of time to both meet up with, or rewatch this landmark YA saga, as The Starvation Video games: Dawn on the Reaping is about to daybreak in theaters on November 20, 2026.