9 Candidates To Play a Young Haymitch In The New 'Hunger Games' Movie 'Sunrise On The Reaping'!

On June 6, it was announced that Suzanne Collins would be back for another Hunger Games book titled The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping! The book is set to come out on March 18, 2025, and minutes later we got confirmation of a movie adaptatiom hitting theaters on November 20, 2026. “Welcome to the Second Quarter Quell,” the post reads.

Dedicated fans already knew what was in store for this new story once it was declared that this book and movie adaptation would follow the 50th Hunger Games. Held 24 years before the original trilogy, the victor was Haymitch Abernathy from District 12. With Hunger Games fans dying for more information, the thing on everyone’s mind is, who will play the younger version of Haymitch? We’re here to break down some viable candidates for the role!

1. Cooper Van Grootel

Cooper Van Grootel has been in the business from a young age but is best known for his breakthrough performance as Nate Macauley in the popular Peacock series "One Of Us Is Lying". His recent projects include One True Loves and Snow Valley. With Cooper’s "One Of Us Is Lying" character being seen as the bad boy, a character like Haymitch isn’t that far off.

2. Louis Hoffman

Actor Louis Hofmann is from Germany, where he gained prominence as the lead in the movie Tom Sawyer in 2011. For his performance as a juvenile prisoner of war in the Danish film Land of Mine, he was awarded the Bodil Award for Best Supporting Actor. Other projects of his include Netflix’s "Dark" and AppleTV+'s "Masters of the Air", produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. He’s pretty much the exact picture of a young Woody Harrelson.

3. Harris Dickinson

Harris Dickinson is quickly on the rise having roles in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Triangle of Sadness, Where the Crawdads Sing, The Iron Claw, and "A Murder at the End of the World", all in the last 5 years. Easy to say he has the acting chops to be the lead in a Hunger Games film, but he also has the looks, with shaggy brown hair that can easily be dyed to replicate the character.

4. Danny Griffin

Danny Griffin is best known for playing Sky on the Netflix series "Fate: The Winx Saga", which ran for two seasons. Born in London, England, and raised in Cornwall, Griffin began acting on stage in The Railway Children at London’s King Cross Theatre. With his light blonde locks, Danny could easily pass for a young Haymitch.

5. Judah Lewis

Judah Lewis is best known for his lead role in Netflix’s The Babysitter and its sequel The Babysitter: Killer Queen. His bodyswap horror film Suitable Flesh, based on H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “The Thing on the Doorstep”, premiered last year at the Tribeca Film Festival. Again, he has the look, just needs a little hair dye.

6. Rudy Pankow

This Alaskan native is best known for his role on Netflix’s hit show "Outer Banks", where he plays JJ Maybank. He starred in The Crusades and Accidental Texan, and had a small role in the Tom Holland film Uncharted. No doubt, Rudy Pankow can nail this role and has the action experience to prove it.

7. Guy Remmers

A bit of an unexpected pick is Guy Remmers. Guy broke onto the scene in the Apple TV+ show "The Buccaneers" playing The Duke of Tintagel. Born and raised in Bristol, England, this is his only role besides a short film, but we have no doubt he can handle a big project. His facial structure itself is reminiscent of a young Woody Harrelson, but he would need to ditch the brown hair.

8. Kyle Allen

Kyle has quite the resume, having worked with actors such as Zac Efron and Russell Crowe in The Greatest Beer Run Ever, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes star Rachel Zegler in West Side Story, and appeared in "American Horror Story: Apocalypse". Like Guy Remmers, Kyle just needs a dye job as he already has the look down.

9. Walker Scobell

The most age-appropriate pick on thid list would be the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" star, Walker Scobell. Walker shot onto the scene playing a younger version of Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project. Since then, he’s taken part in Secret Headquarters and is the title character in the aforementioned new Disney+ "Percy Jackson" series. He’s already played the younger version of one mainstream actor, so why not another?