Ben Wang, known for his lead role in the Disney+ series American Born Chinese, has been cast as Wyatt Callow, a District 12 Tribute, in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. This upcoming film adapts Suzanne Collins’s bestselling novel, which revisits the world of Panem two decades before the events of the original Hunger Games series. The film is scheduled for release on 20 November 2026.
Wang’s casting adds to an expanding ensemble for the film, which centres on the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. He joins a list of previously announced actors including Joseph Zada as a young Haymitch Abernathy, Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, and Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee. Maya Hawke will play Wiress, Kelvin Harrison Jr. will appear as Beetee, and Lili Taylor is cast as Mags.
Wang is also set to appear in other notable productions. He will soon be seen in the titular role for Sony Pictures’ Karate Kid: Legends, which is due in cinemas worldwide on 30 May. He secured this role after a global search that received over 10,000 submissions. Additionally, Wang is to star in Lionsgate’s upcoming feature The Long Walk, based on the Stephen King novel, and directed by Francis Lawrence, who is also helming Sunrise on the Reaping. Wang recently completed lead roles in two independent films: Brian, a coming-of-age story, and an R-rated comedy directed by David Wain.
Francis Lawrence, who has directed every instalment of The Hunger Games since Catching Fire in 2012, returns to direct Sunrise on the Reaping. Billy Ray is adapting the screenplay. The original five films in the franchise have collectively earned over $3.3 billion at the global box office.
The book Sunrise on the Reaping, published in March, quickly became a bestseller, selling 1.5 million copies in its first week across the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This figure is double the first-week sales of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and three times those of Mockingjay, indicating strong fan interest in this return to Panem’s past.
