Elle Fanning, Mckenna Grace and Kieran Culkin Get Very Candid About Joining ‘The Hunger Games’ Universe

It was an event fit for the Capitol at London’s Westfield shopping centre on Wednesday night as the cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping descended on the British capital for the film’s U.K. launch.

A cornucopia towered over fans, journalists and a purple carpet, while large tapestries with Ralph Fiennes as President Snow were lofted above that read: “Panem’s No. 1 Peacekeeper.” The sixth movie in the beloved franchise, based on Suzanne Collins’ book of the same name and directed by long-time Hunger Games helmer Francis Lawrence, follows the second Quarter Quell in which Woody Harrelson’s character Haymitch (played by Joseph Zada in the prequel) is sent into the arena with twice as many children.

Zada, Fiennes and their fellow cast members, including Elle Fanning (Effie Trinket), Kieran Culkin (Caesar Flickerman), Mckenna Grace (Maysilee Donner), Jesse Plemons (Plutarch Heavensbee) and Whitney Peak (Lenore Dove), dutifully spoke to press while fans screamed for their attention. The Hollywood Reporter even captured Fiennes and Fanning meeting for the first time, in a sweet moment where the actress gushed over the Brit and lamented the fact that they didn’t share any scenes. Unfortunately, Katniss Everdeen herself, Jennifer Lawrence — who has confirmed on Call Her Daddy that she reunited with two co-stars on this film — did not make a surprise appearance.

Culkin admitted that he eventually figured out what to do with Hunger Games host Flickerman — depicted by Stanley Tucci in the original films — after jokingly telling a fan, “lower those expectations,” when he’d just signed on.

The Succession alum told THR: “Oh yeah, that was when I was on Broadway. You know, you come out, people are doing what you’re doing and fucking taking videos while I’m trying to have an interaction with somebody,” he began. “People were like, ‘Oh, I hear you’re doing Hunger Games,’ and I was like, ‘Lower those fucking expectations,’ because at that point, I had no clue what I was going to do with it.”

“It was already too much pressure,” the always-candid Culkin continued. “To me, this was like a no-brainer — don’t do it, because everyone loves what Stanley Tucci did with the role. So I was like, ‘They’re gonna hate [me].’ I feel like I’m being set up for failure. [They’ll say], ‘That’s not Caesar!’ No matter what I do. But I found a different take on it, something that I think connects to his.” Culkin added that he hasn’t spoken to Tucci about the role, but believes any empathy Tucci’s Flickerman showed in his films wasn’t real. “I’m not sure if that’s genuine or not,” the star said. “I think it’s a little bit performative. That’s just my take on it. It could be interpreted differently, but I think whether or not this Caesar that I’m playing has any empathy is really not the point to him. He needs to succeed. He needs this to go well, and he needs to get the promotion he’s looking for. So it doesn’t matter whether or not he has empathy; he shuts it off.”

Fanning, dressed in a divine (and very Effie Trinket) Robert Wun dress with a spinning ballerina hat on her head, opened up about the experience of being fancast as the younger version of Elizabeth Banks’ character. “This franchise is what it is because of the fans, and so because of that, when they’re like, ‘Oh, we would love Elle to play Effie,’ of course it’s daunting because you want to do them justice and make them proud. And I hope when the film comes out that they feel like they made the right choice,” she beamed.

Kieran Culkin admits he initially thought “that’s a no-brainer – don’t do it” about #TheHungerGames: Sunrise on the Reaping because fans would just miss Stanley Tucci’s Caesar Flickerman.

“I found a different take on it, something that I think connects to his.” pic.twitter.com/QQdQiQoQPo

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 28, 2026

She reveals she texted with Banks a little bit about how she was going to make Effie her own. “She is so unbelievably kind and so talented and just an incredibly generous person,” the Oscar nominee told THR. “And she really wanted me to have fun. She was like, ‘I want you to have as much fun as I did getting to play her. I give you my blessing, make her your own.’ And so that gave me the confidence.”

Grace felt similarly daunted when she was fancast as Haymitch’s arena ally, Maysilee. “I think that what eased some of the pressure was the fact that people seemed to respond mostly nicely to my casting, which is not always the case,” said the actress, in a stunning, sequined blue dress, to THR. “That meant so much to me that the fanbase liked me as Maysilee because I was like, ‘I don’t even know if I like myself as Maysilee! How am I gonna do this justice?’ Like, taking on something like this in a franchise that I care so deeply about and a character that means everything to me. It’s been so daunting and insane.”

The Handmaid’s Tale actress added: “Usually whenever you’re fancast, I find that it doesn’t end up working out, so I always get terrified. I’m like, ‘No, the casting directors are gonna see this and they’re not gonna hire me!’ But I think Francis, I don’t know if he pays attention to those things, but he’s tuned in to what the fans love [and] he’s always going to pick whoever he sees [as the] best fit for the role, and so I’m just so thankful that he even watched my tape, let alone that he hired me, and now I’m at the premiere and promoting it and I’m in The Hunger Games!”

“It meant so much to me that the fanbase liked me as Maysilee because I was like, ‘I don’t even know if I like myself as Maysilee! How am I gonna do this justice?’”

McKenna Grace on being fancast in her #TheHungerGames: Sunrise on the Reaping role: pic.twitter.com/96mzQ36ZSB

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 28, 2026

Lawrence, meanwhile, jokingly chastised Jennifer Lawrence for revealing her involvement on Call Her Daddy and said he tried not to tell her or Harrelson about bringing their characters back until the very last moment. “I debated when to tell them,” he said on the carpet. “Woody was the first to know because the story is about his character. But I have to say I think we waited till almost the day before the book was announced, and we were already working on the adaptation. Because, let’s say, Jen and Woody can be a bit unfiltered at times, and so I just didn’t want them spilling secrets, as she just did on a podcast,” he smiled. “I was like, ‘OK, I’m gonna wait till the last possible moment to lessen the amount of time anybody has a chance to talk.'”

THR also managed to grab time with Fiennes and Close on the carpet at Wednesday night’s launch event. Fiennes touched on stepping into the shoes of the late Donald Sutherland with his role as a middle-aged President Snow. “Well, I’m a huge admirer of Donald’s work, and I worked with him some time ago. So I think the thing is to look at what he’s created and try and use that, but without doing an imitation.”

On how he approached Snow’s psychology in this movie — especially considering the background we were given in The Hunger Games: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes — Fiennes replied: “It’s all about him, isn’t it? These games are all about him, they’re reflecting on him, his power, his control. At the beginning, I think he thinks he’s in a good place, except it all goes wrong with the chariot race, and then he’s confronted by this young man [Haymitch] who’s confronting him. It issues a challenge. Just by looking at him, that’s a criticism [to Snow].”

Close dazzled in a green dress and stopped by to talk to THR about the impressive makeup on display as Drusilla Sickle. “The only prosthetic I had was when we pushed up my nose, they kept it like a little pig with surgical tape. Then there was a beautiful prosthetic that was made to cover that so you didn’t see the tape. That’s the only prosthetic. Everything else was stretching my face. It took 3.5 hours,” said the star. She added about her role as Capitol chaperone to District 12: “She’s vile to the core. I think she’s lost [any chance of redemption]. I think maintaining her position at the Capitol is the most important thing for her.”

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping hits theaters Nov. 20.