Watch : 'The Hunger Games' Cast Gushes Over "Hero" Viola Davis The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is letting the casting games begin. The dystopian franchise’s forthcoming prequel has officially cast two of the movie’s leading roles: young Haymitch Abernathy and his girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird. So which actors will be taking on the highly-anticipated parts?

Joseph Zada will be playing Haymitch, while Whitney Peak will step into the part of Lenore, Lionsgate confirmed to E! News April 23. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, based on the bestselling novel by Suzanne Collins, marks the sixth movie from the franchise.

The long awaited return to Panem will hit theatres in November 2026, three years after the release of the last movie, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. The first film premiered in theatres in 2012. And the film’s plot will center on the story of 16-year-old Haymitch—played by Woody Harrelson in the first five installments—a Hunger Games victor who mentored characters Katniss and Peeta through their own games in the original book and film.

In Sunrise on the Reaping, which takes place 24 years earlier, Zada’s Haymitch will go through his own unexpected journey of being selected as tribute.