The eight-time Oscar nominee undergoes a dramatic transformation to play Drusilla Sickle in the new trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. With an intricate white hairstyle, a tight smile, and arched brows, Glenn Close looks every bit like a Capitol nightmare.
Drusilla is the cruel escort responsible for District 12’s tributes during the 50th annual Hunger Games. She is also the person tasked with announcing this year’s particularly brutal twist: As part of the Second Quarter Quell, twice as many children will be sent into the arena.
That means 48 tributes will compete instead of the usual 24.
Close previously told Entertainment Weekly that prosthetics stretched her features and made Drusilla look more intimidating. Even co-star Elle Fanning reportedly failed to recognize her when they encountered each other on set.
The elaborate costumes also reminded Close of another fabulously wicked character from her career.
“She’s kind of like Cruella,” Close told the outlet, explaining that she did not fully see Drusilla until she entered the character’s complete makeup and wardrobe.
Close famously played Cruella de Vil in Disney’s live-action 101 Dalmatians and its sequel. Drusilla may share her flair for theatrical fashion, but her disdain for the people of District 12 makes her a distinctly sinister addition to The Hunger Games universe.
A Young Haymitch Enters the Arena
Beyond Close’s transformation, the new trailer offers an extended look at the Games that shaped Haymitch Abernathy long before he became Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark’s sharp-tongued mentor.
Joseph Zada takes over the role previously played by Woody Harrelson. His Haymitch is only 16 when he is torn away from his family and his girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird (Whitney Peak), and forced into the deadliest edition of the competition yet.
He enters the arena with three other District 12 tributes: Maysilee Donner (Mckenna Grace), Wyatt Callow (Ben Wang) and Louella McCoy (Molly McCann). Haymitch forms an unlikely alliance with Maysilee and joins a larger coalition of tributes determined to challenge the Capitol’s control.
The trailer makes it clear that he is not only trying to survive. Haymitch begins searching for a way to turn President Snow’s carefully controlled spectacle against him, planting seeds of resistance decades before Katniss becomes the face of a revolution.
Familiar Faces Return to Panem
The prequel features younger versions of several characters fans already know. Ralph Fiennes plays President Coriolanus Snow, Jesse Plemons portrays a young Plutarch Heavensbee, Elle Fanning appears as Effie Trinket, and Kieran Culkin takes over as Hunger Games host Caesar Flickerman.
Billy Porter joins Close on the District 12 prep team as Magno Stift, Drusilla’s estranged husband and the tributes’ stylist. The ensemble also includes Maya Hawke as Wiress, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee and Lili Taylor as Mags, three former victors whose older counterparts appeared in Catching Fire.
Set 24 years before the original Hunger Games, Sunrise on the Reaping is based on Suzanne Collins’ bestselling 2025 novel. Francis Lawrence, who has directed every franchise installment since Catching Fire, returns behind the camera. Billy Ray and Michael Lesslie wrote the screenplay.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping arrives exclusively in theaters Nov. 20, 2026. See more photos below.
