‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’ Gives Fans Their First Real Look at Mckenna Grace’s Maysilee Donner

Prequels to beloved franchises live or die on how well they can make fans care about characters whose fates are already sealed, and few upcoming installments carry that weight quite like this one. ‘The Hunger Games‘ series has built its entire mythology on tragedy, and this next chapter promises to dig deeper into one of the saga’s most quietly devastating backstories yet.

That story centers on a young Haymitch Abernathy, the role Woody Harrelson originated in the original trilogy, now being reimagined by newcomer Joseph Zada as he competes in the brutal 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. Alongside him stands Maysilee Donner, his fellow District 12 tribute and the original owner of the gold Mockingjay pin that would later find its way to Katniss Everdeen decades down the line.

Now Entertainment Weekly’s Fall Movie Preview has given fans their first proper look at that character in action. A new image shows Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner walking through a crowd of tributes and Peacekeepers, dressed in a lavender dress with a pale blue sash, her expression steely as she approaches the reaping stage. The photo captures the exact kind of quiet dread the franchise has always excelled at portraying in its youngest characters.

Grace’s casting as Maysilee was confirmed back in April 2025, joining Zada and Whitney Peak, who plays Haymitch’s girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird, as the first wave of announced cast members for the project. ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ is based on Suzanne Collins’ bestselling novel of the same name, which takes place twenty-four years before the events of the original ‘Hunger Games’ book and film.

Maysilee’s role in the broader ‘Hunger Games’ mythology carries significant weight for longtime fans of the franchise, given her direct connection to the Mockingjay pin that becomes such a potent symbol throughout Katniss’s own arc years later. Grace, known for her roles in “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” joins a supporting cast that reportedly includes Elle Fanning as a young Effie Trinket and Glenn Close as Drusilla Sickle, further deepening the film’s ties to the franchise’s established characters.

Francis Lawrence, who has directed every ‘Hunger Games’ installment since 2012’s “Catching Fire,” returns to helm the project from a screenplay adaptation by Billy Ray. Color Force’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson are producing, with Cameron MacConomy serving as executive producer, keeping the creative team largely consistent with the franchise’s previous entries.

The novel itself set records upon release, selling 1.2 million copies in its first week in the United States, more than double the first-week sales of Collins’ earlier prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and roughly triple those of “Mockingjay” back in 2010. That kind of reader demand has clearly translated into significant anticipation for the film adaptation, with casting news for the project generating consistent buzz across fan communities since the announcements first began rolling out.

‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’ is set for release on November 20, 2026, giving Lionsgate a clear runway to build momentum through the fall movie season. With the franchise having grossed more than $3.3 billion collectively at the global box office across its five previous films, expectations for this prequel’s box office performance remain understandably high.

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