The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is the next installment in the Hunger Games franchise and will see one acting icon stepping into the shoes of another. Suzanne Collins’ second prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy focuses on the 50th Hunger Games, in which Katniss and Peeta’s future mentor Haymitch Abernathy competes. The movie adaptation is set to release in theaters in November 2026; Sunrise on the Reaping‘s cast features many notable actors playing younger versions of established Hunger Games characters, including Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, and Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, among others.

Meanwhile, recent Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes will be playing Panem’s tyrannical President Coriolanus Snow, who was portrayed by the late Donald Sutherland in the Hunger Games movies of the 2010s. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter at the premiere of his new film 28 Years Later, Ralph Fiennes said that he is “not going to try and be Donald Sutherland,” but is hoping to incorporate some of the “complexity” of Sutherland’s performance into his as a younger Snow. Check out his full comments below.

Look, I’m a Donald Sutherland fan. I’m not going to try and be Donald Sutherland, because no one can be him. But I think the character he created is very complex… The complexity of that psychology, I hope I can echo in some way.

What Ralph Fiennes’ Comment Means For Sunrise On The Reaping

Fiennes’ Performance Will Show A Different Era Of President Snow

The Hunger Games movies expanded the depiction of President Snow when they were allowed to cut away from Katniss from time to time to show the villain discussing with another character his methods of subduing the districts, elevating the series’ depiction of authoritarianism. Sutherland’s portrayal of the character is incredible, with many subtleties to his cruel calculations. However, it only becomes clear in the end that, throughout, Snow is at the tail end of his rule. The districts’ victory is imminent, and his own health is deteriorating due to the measures he has taken to secure power.

Fiennes is playing a different version of Snow, who is at the height of his reign of terror. During his brief interactions with a teenage Haymitch (who will be played by Joseph Zada), Snow illustrates how he wields his absolute power on an individual level. Fiennes can and should draw upon Sutherland’s performance to create Snow’s mannerisms that reflect his philosophy but make the character his own. He is at a different point in his life, and Fiennes can be the bridge between Sutherland and Tom Blyth’s performance as Snow as a young man in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

Our Take On Ralph Fiennes’ Approach To Taking On Donald Sutherland’s Hunger Games Role

With Three Different Performances, We Can See The Full Evolution Of President Snow

Casting someone with the career status — not to mention experience playing legendary villains — of Ralph Fiennes was the best move for Sunrise on the Reaping. Fiennes has enough of a presence on-screen and off that it won’t feel like he is just a pale imitation of Sutherland. We know that Fiennes can be an absolute menace as a movie villain, and he will likely deliver a performance that can be compared to Sutherland’s for its similarities and variations. Sunrise on the Reaping is possibly going to show Snow as his most terrifying, and Fiennes will honor the late Sutherland’s legacy by building on the characterization.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter