Actress Mckenna Grace wore a custom white wedding gown reminiscent of Katniss Everdeen to a Hunger Games event during Paris Fashion Week on October 7.
The 20-year-old arrived at the Elegance is Authority: The Story, Style, and Power of Panem event with her Sunrise on the Reaping costar Joseph Zada.
Her ruffled dress featured a diamond-encrusted bodice piece, recreating the look Jennifer Lawrence wore in Catching Fire before it transformed into a black mockingjay emblem.
"Yes, it's a vintage Monique gown, but I got this custom made and sewn on," Grace told E! News of the sculptural piece. "It's crazy. It's ridiculous."
Sunrise on the Reaping prequel
Grace, who earned a Critics Choice Award for Gifted and an Emmy nod for The Handmaid's Tale, promised a cornucopia of fashion statements during the promotional tour for the upcoming film. Her other credits include Crash & Bernstein, The Young and the Restless, I, Tonya, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Annabelle Comes Home, The Bad Seed and The Haunting of Hill House.
"In the spirit of fashion, I am so excited about this press tour and all the looks and all the premieres and all the times that we get to meet all the fans," the Regretting You actress told W Magazine on October 5. "It's going to be ridiculous and insane and exciting."
The Suzanne Collins prequel takes place 24 years before Katniss Everdeen entered the arena, arriving in theaters on November 20, 2026. The story opens on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.
"As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem," the description on Collins' website reads. "This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves."
Grace plays District 12 tribute Maysilee Donner, competing alongside Zada in the lead role of Haymitch Abernathy. Zada has previously appeared in We Were Liars, Invisible Boys, Total Control and The Speedway Murders. Woody Harrelson played the role in earlier films.
Grace emphasized she is a super fan of the Panem lore and noted that everyone is a fan on the prequel set. "It's crazy to a part of Hunger Games in any regard," she told Entertainment Tonight last month. "To get to be playing these characters I think is so surreal for all of us."
"As soon as the new Hunger Games book dropped, I went to Barnes & Noble and read it without the audition even being in consideration," she told L'Officiel in June. "We're trying to make something that we're all proud of and the fans can be happy with. So everybody should be stoked."
Prequel film ensemble cast
The Lionsgate film features a large ensemble cast taking on roles established in the earlier movies. Oscar nominee Jesse Plemons portrays future Head Gamemaker and rebellion leader Plutarch Heavensbee, a role played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in Catching Fire and Mockingjay.
Plemons met his longtime partner Kirsten Dunst on the set of Fargo, which earned him an Emmy nod alongside his work in Love & Death and Black Mirror. His credits include The Power of the Dog, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Irishman, Battleship and Breaking Bad.
Ralph Fiennes rules Panem as dictator President Snow. The three-time Oscar nominee and seven-time BAFTA contender replaces Tom Blyth from The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and the late Donald Sutherland. Fiennes is known for Conclave, The English Patient, Schindler's List, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Coriolanus, The Constant Gardener, The End Of The Affair and Bernard And Doris.
Elle Fanning steps in for Elizabeth Banks as Haymitch Abernathy stylist Effie Trinket. Fanning made her debut alongside sister Dakota Fanning in I Am Sam, later starring in Maleficent, Somewhere, Super 8, The Beguiled, A Complete Unknown, The Girl from Plainville and The Great.
Kieran Culkin succeeds Stanley Tucci as host Caesar Flickerman. After debuting in his brother Macaulay Culkin's film Home Alone, the actor starred in Father of the Bride, She's All That, Igby Goes Down, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Infinity Baby, Succession and his Oscar-winning role in A Real Pain.
District 12 tributes and mentors
The District 12 team includes Glenn Close as escort Drusilla Sickle and Billy Porter as fashion designer Magno Stift, her estranged husband who finds inspiration in live reptiles. Close previously starred in Fatal Attraction, The Wife, Guardians of the Galaxy and Hillbilly Elegy.
Producer Nina Jacobs described Close as "a dream Drusilla" in a June 16 press release. "She brings so much of her intellect and imagination to each role, creating characters who are unforgettable and iconic," she said.
Jacobs also praised Porter, who earned an Emmy for his role as Pray Tell in Pose and starred in American Horror Story, Cinderella and The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy. "Billy is one of those rare performers who can dazzle and devastate in equal measure on stage and screen," she shared. "He made an indelible impression on me when we worked together on Pose, both as an actor and a human being."
The cast includes Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee, taking over from Jeffrey Wright. The actor, whose credits include Genius, Chevalier, Waves, Luce, It Comes at Night and Mufasa: The Lion King, plays the winner of the 34th games and father of 50th Games tribute Ampert Latier.
Former victors mentoring the District 12 team include Maya Hawke as Wiress and Lili Taylor as Mags. Hawke, the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, takes over from Amanda Plummer. Her credits include Little Women, Do Revenge, Inside Out 2 and Stranger Things. Taylor, an Emmy nominee for American Crime and Six Feet Under, replaces the late Lynn Cohen. She has appeared in The Conjuring, Mystic Pizza, Say Anything and I Shot Andy Warhol.
Additional cast and crew
The District 12 tributes also feature Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow and Molly McCann as Louella. Wang has appeared in Karate Kid: Legends, Mean Girls, Good Egg, Sight and American Born Chinese. McCann's credits include Bad Sisters, The Hardacres, The Boy That Never Was, Star Wars: Visions, Herself, Freelance, Never Grow Old and Feed.
Iona Bell plays Louella lookalike Lou Lou. Bell has appeared in Fing!, Savage Flowers, Frayed and Mandrake. Whitney Peak portrays Haymitch Abernathy girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird. Peak is known for Gossip Girl, Home Before Dark, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Campfire Kiss, Molly's Game and Hocus Pocus 2.
Francis Lawrence returns to direct the film, having previously helmed Catching Fire, both Mockingjay parts, Slumberland, See and Red Sparrow. He has also directed music videos for Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez.
Oscar nominee Billy Ray adapted the screenplay, following his work on the original Hunger Games film, Terminator: Dark Fate, Flightplan and Captain Phillips. Producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson return alongside executive producer Cameron MacConomy.
