Hide the mahogany, Elle Fanning is joining the cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping as Effie Trinket. THR broke the news.

In the story, Effie serves as the stylist for Haymitch Abernathy (played here by Joseph Zada, and by Woody Harrelson in the first four Hunger Games films) in his preparations for the games. Elizabeth Banks previously portrayed an older version of Effie.

She joins Ralph Fiennes, Zada, Whitney Peak, Mckenna Grace, Jesse Plemons, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Maya Hawke, Molly McCann, Iona Bell, Lili Taylor and Ben Wang.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping lands in cinemas on November 20th, 2026, with Francis Lawrence directing from a script by Billy Ray that adapts Suzanne Collins’ book. The novel returns readers to Panem on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games.

“From the moment Suzanne released the book, one question echoed from fans around the world: Who will play Effie?” says Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-president Erin Westerman. “Elizabeth Banks made her iconic — so who could honour that legacy while bringing us back to Effie’s early, most formative days? For us, there was only one answer. Elle Fanning’s career has been transcendent. She has a rare presence — warm, sparkling and layered with extraordinary depth. She was the undeniable fan favourite from the start, and we’re honoured she answered the call. The odds, it turns out, were in our favour.”

Elle Fanning was recently in the Oscar-nominated biopic A Complete Unknown, and in Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, which is premiering at Cannes. Most excitingly for STARBURST readers, she stars in the upcoming Predator: Badlands.