May the odds be ever in the favor of The Hunger Games filmmakers as they cast the actor to play young Haymitch Abernathy.
The fan-favorite character, portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the first four Hunger Games films, takes center stage in Suzanne Collins‘ newest novel in the franchise, Sunrise on the Reaping.
The book hit shelves everywhere on Tuesday. In the prequel novel, a younger version of the mentor who helped bring Katniss and Peeta to victory sets out to compete in the 50th annual Hunger Games. A film adaptation was announced to be in the works at the same time as the book was announced back in June 2024.
In a recent interview with Variety, The Hunger Games franchise’s producer Nina Jacobson talked about what the filmmakers are looking for when casting a young Haymitch.
“It’s an interesting challenge,” Jacobson said. “You don’t want somebody who’s impersonating Woody, but you want somebody who very credibly feels like they could be a young version of this character, before the trauma and grief and rage that the fallout of the Games create.”
The producer said that while “nobody can be Woody Harrelson but Woody Harrelson,” it is possible “to find that mischief that he has in him inherently” in somebody else.
She also said that Haymitch is a great role.
“One of the things that’s so unusual about this is that very rarely does a franchise give an actor a chance to really show their chops and the range that they have, but these roles do,” Jacobson said. “We’ve been blessed with very sophisticated actors in our roles. They draw in and attract real acting talent, because [Collins’] characters are so deep, the ideas are so powerful. It’s a franchise that is still really rooted in incredible character trauma.”
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