Glenn Close Transforms in New Hunger Games Prequel Trailer

A first look trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise On the Reaping was released by Lionsgate on Thursday.

Glenn Close — who recently made a cameo on The Kardashians — looked unrecognizable with heavy prosthetics and fake teeth as she transformed into Drusilla Sickle.

The two-minute clip also features Elle Fanning, Joseph Zada, and McKenna Grace in the franchise’s upcoming installment, which reveals the backstory of Haymitch Abernathy.  

It begins with the yearly reaping ceremony held throughout Panem, with Drusilla declaring District 12 will need to provide twice the amount of tributes in honor of the second Quarter Quell.

Donning a sever orange-tinged bob and dressed in a yellow leather suit, she says into a microphone, ‘Twice the tributes. Twice the glory.’

The trailer cuts to a lush green arena where a teenaged Haymitch (Zada) gets ready to fight for his life.

The remainder of the trailer gives viewers a look at Haymitch and his counterparts battling to survive.

Unexpected alliances form as the stakes are raised and the words ‘next year a new era of the Games begins’ flashes across the screen.

Fans get a glimpse of Haymitch’s life beyond the games, which includes a romance with Lenore Dove Baird, played by Whitney Peak.

The film is set 25 years before The Hunger Games, with familiar characters including Effie Trinket (Fanning), President Snow (Ralph Fiennes) and Plutarch Heavensbee (Jesse Plemons) emerging as their younger selves.

The trailer finishes with a voiceover from the older Haymitch, played by Woody Harrelson: ‘I think these games are gonna be different.’

Adding more tension, a volcano erupts in the distance.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, adapted from Suzanne Collins’ novel, will premiere in theaters on November 20, 2026.

‘With Sunrise on the Reaping, I was inspired by David Hume’s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, “the easiness with which the many are governed by the few,”‘ the author said in a June 2024 press release, per E! News.

She added, ‘The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative. The question “real or not real?” seems more pressing to me every day.’

Francis Lawrence, credited with directing four of the five previous Hunger Games films, is behind the latest iteration. 

Haymitch won the 50th Hunger Games in his youth, and the new movie will depict how the experience led him to become the drunken, ornery character fans have come to know.

Ben Wang joins the cast as Wyatt Callow, another tribute from District 12 whose family is known for betting on the games.

Plemons will transform into a youthful Plutarch, whose older version was played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. 

And Kieran Culkin will bring to life a young Caesar Flickerman, originally played by Stanley Tucci.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise On the Reaping will hit theaters on November 20, 2026.