Last year, we reported that the Hunger Games prequel machine was marching steadily along, with the announcements of both a new backwards-looking novel—Sunrise On The Reaping, centered on the early days of Katniss Everden’s mentor Haymitch Abernathy—and a film adaptation of same, rolling along in the aftermath of The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes. Now, Deadline has casting information on the upcoming film, including the reveal of the wee baby Woody Harrelson who’ll be taking on the role of the much younger Haymitch.

Specifically, it’s being reported that Joseph Zada and Whitney Peak have been cast in the movie, where they’ll play Haymitch and his girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird, respectively. (And if you’re wondering if these two young lovers can eke out true happiness even amidst a world of reapings and quells, you, uh, haven’t read too many of these books, huh?) Zada is a relative newcomer, having just recently starred in Australian streamer Stan’s coming-of-age drama Invisible Boys. Peak starred in the recent Gossip Girl revival, and as one of the leads of Hocus Pocus 2.

Sunrise On The Reaping is based on Suzanne Collins’ latest book, which hit stores in March of 2025. (The film was put into production way before that, because you don’t need to know exactly what the end product is going to look like to start the money printer whirring.) Francis Lawrence, who’s been comfortably sat atop this franchise since the second Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire, will direct, working from a script by original Hunger Games screenwriter Billy Ray. The film’s events will focus on the Second Quarter Quell, when Haymitch and 47 other teens are subjected to the latest version of Panem’s killing games. Collins’ book includes a few scenes set in the aftermath of the original trilogy, as Haymitch reflects on the book’s events, but god knows whether producers will be willing to pay Harrelson’s price tag to show up for that.