‘We Were Liars’ Star Joseph Zada On Playing Haymitch Abernathy In ‘Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping’: “I’m So Ridiculously Nervous” Actor Joseph Zada, who will star as Johnny Sinclair Dennis in Prime Video’s upcoming adaptation of E. Lockhart’s best-selling book We Were Liars, teased a tiny bit of his prep for his upcoming portrayal of Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. “I’ve seen scripts. I can’t say anything,” Zada told Deadline during the press day for We Were Liars.

“I’ve read the book twice already.” More from Deadline ADVERTISEMENT Deadline broke the news of Zada’s casting as the main character in the film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ latest book, which centers on Haymitch Abernathy’s Hunger Games, the second Quarter Quell. Haymitch mentored Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) in their two sets of games. “I’m a very, very, very big fan of everything to do with it and the whole cast and everyone involved,” Zada added.

“I’m so ridiculously nervous.” As for Zada’s character in We Were Liars, author and executive producer E. Lockhart described how the team behind the show “all lit up” at seeing the actor’s portrayal of Johnny. “We had seen many, many, many handsome guys, and we had seen many, many, many very funny guys, and we had seen pretty many very funny, very handsome guys. And [Joseph] was all those things, but he also really communicated the pain underneath Johnny’s humor and also underneath Johnny’s bad behavior,” Lockhart told Deadline.

“He was showing us a kid who was complicated, hurting, relatable as well as snarky and badly behaved. That was really exciting.” We Were Liars arrives on Prime Video June 18 with all eight episodes. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is set to arrive in theaters November 20, 2026.

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