Kieran Culkin nabs next big role after first Oscar win

Kieran Culkin has joined the star-studded cast of Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

The second Hunger Games prequel after the 2023's The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes has cast the Succession star as Caesar Flickerman, host of the Hunger Games, fresh of his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The role secured by the newly minted Oscar winner in the popular franchise was played by Stanley Tucci in the original quarter of films.

Erin Westerman, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-president, described Kieran, 42, as the "perfect" fit for the role.

"Kieran’s scene-stealing presence and undeniable charm are perfect for Caesar Flickerman, the sickeningly watchable host of Panem’s darkest spectacle. Stanley Tucci made Caesar unforgettable—and now Kieran will make the role entirely his own," the co-president lauded.

The Home Alone actor is the new addition to the growing cast. The recently announced lineup includes Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy, Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, McKenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Ralph Fiennes as President Snow, Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket and many more.

The Francis Lawrence-directed instalment in the Hunger Games universe is based on Suzanne Collins' 2025 dystopian book of the same name.

The sixth film, set 24 years before 2008's The Hunger Games, will follow a young Haymitch Abernathy (originally played by Woody Harrelson) as he competes in the 50th Hunger Games, otherwise known as the Second Quarter Quell.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will be in theatres on November 20, 2026.