The latest casting drop for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping has us groaning louder than a District 12 coal miner. Lionsgate announced on June 16, 2025, that Glenn Close and Billy Porter are joining the prequel, slated for November 20, 2026. But after the snooze-fest that was The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, we’re calling this what it is: a blatant attempt to squeeze more cash out of a franchise that’s been running on empty since its overhyped, tween-fueled heyday.

The cast is stacked, but we’re not here to clap like the Capitol masses. Glenn Close, of Fatal Attraction fame, will play Drusilla Sickle, a cold-hearted District 12 escort for the 50th Hunger Games, aka the Second Quarter Quell. Billy Porter, Pose star and loud-and-proud LGBT activist, is her estranged husband, Magno Stift, a checked-out stylist for the tributes. They join Joseph Zada as young Haymitch Abernathy, Whitney Peak as his love interest Lenore Dove Baird, Ralph Fiennes as a scheming young President Snow, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, plus Mckenna Grace, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Lili Taylor. It’s a mostly hefty roster by today’s standards.

Let’s be real: Songbirds and Snakes was a flop that proved the Hunger Games well is dry. As we said in our Worth It or Woke review, it was a bloated, pointless slog that tossed in Hunter Schafer’s narratively bland Tigris to score progressive points while delivering a story as flat as Peeta’s burnt bread. The Hunger Games always had a shaky premise—a dystopian death match that never fully made sense—but it coasted on a wave of tween girls swooning over Hollywood’s girl-power marketing. That box office haul? Less about quality, more about a fanbase high on Katniss.

The plot for Sunrise on the Reaping, based on Suzanne Collins’ March 2025 novel, sounds like more of the same. It’s set during the 50th Hunger Games, where young Haymitch fights in a beefed-up Quarter Quell. Spoiler: We know he wins, so the stakes are already DOA. Close’s Drusilla and Porter’s Magno might stir up some Capitol drama, but it’s hard to care when the franchise feels like it’s recycling old tricks for a quick buck. With production kicking off in July 2025 and Francis Lawrence back in the director’s chair, the rushed schedule screams profit-chasing, not passion.

The original Hunger Games was a mildly fun ride for what it was, but its glory days were propped up by a hype machine, not a bulletproof story. Songbirds and Snakes showed the franchise is out of gas, and tossing in Close and Porter feels like a desperate bid to dress up a tired concept. Sunrise on the Reaping might rake in some cash, but we’re betting it’s another soulless sequel banking on nostalgia and pandering.

What’s your take? Is this cast a legit draw, or just more Hollywood checkbox-ticking? Sound off in the comments, and stick with Worth It or Woke for straight-up takes on what’s worth your time—and what’s just woke garbage.