How fans manifested Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

By Eliza Frost

Published Jul 30, 2025 at 10:52 AM

Reading time: 3 minutes

68600

The Hunger Games fandom is celebrating the casting for the upcoming film Sunrise on the Reaping, with Elle Fanning confirmed to play Effie Trinket. An announcement that isn’t all too surprising, considering the fact that fans have been “manifesting” this for “years.”

The casting announcement post on X has since garnered a huge reaction, with over 100,000 reposts and nearly 300,000 likes. Many users have been replying to the original post, claiming that the casting director “isn’t playing at all.”

When the second prequel book was originally announced back in June 2024, it came with the news of a confirmed movie adaptation. Since then, fans have been speculating and manifesting their perfect casting for the younger versions of the trilogy’s characters.

Due to be released late next year, the story is set 24 years before the events of Suzanne Collins’s first book in The Hunger Games trilogy and follows the early lives of fan-favourites.

Fanning joins confirmed cast members Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, and Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman.

Elle Fanning cast as Effie Trinket in new Hunger Games film

Taking to Instagram to confirm her role, Fanning posted the casting announcement, and it’s safe to say that fans were very excited. “AS IT SHOULD BE!!!!” one user said, caps included. Another commented: “Please give the casting director a raise and a big hug from me.”

One person jokingly said: “Ooh so this is how men feel when their teams win the Super Bowl.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Hunger Games (@thehungergames)

One X user wrote: “Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket was the most accurate and universally accepted casting that has ever happened in recent years.”

The Hunger Games fans ‘manifested’ Elle Fanning's role

Fans are even saying it was thanks to them that this casting happened. Commenting on Instagram, a user said: “Everyone say thank you to the fandom manifesting collective. Our powers have grown stronger.”

One user on X wrote: “Y’all have any idea that this fandom has been making young Effie edits with Elle Fanning for YEARS??? And until months ago, this was an impossible dream???”

Another X user seemed to smash their keyboard in excitement, saying: “OH MY GOD ITS HAPPENING THE PROPHECY WE MADE IT GUYSSZBDJCJFNDJDJFN.”

Elle Fanning says ‘fans made this happen’

Speaking to MTV, Fanning even agreed that “fans made this happen.” She said in an interview with Josh Horowitz that the studio was getting hounded online by fans saying she needs to be cast in the role before Fanning got the casting call-up.

Fanning added: “Effie has always been my favourite character. Elizabeth Banks brought so [many], even beyond those books, layers to that character. I got to talk to Elizabeth. We’ve texted and she said, ‘May the odds ever be in your favour.’”

Fanning also confirmed that they haven’t started filming yet, but they’re thinking about it and are hoping to make the fans happy.

When is The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping coming out?

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is set to be released on 20 November 2026, leaving fans eagerly awaiting its release. The plot starts on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell, and sees some intense Games with twice as many tributes taken from their homes in honour of the occasion.

Who is Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games?

Fans of the series will recognise Effie Trinket as the escort for District 12 tributes. She was there to support and offer advice to Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in the trilogy. She was also the stylist and escort for tribute Haymitch Abernathy for his Games. It is this role that we will see Fanning bring to life in Sunrise on the Reaping.

Elizabeth Banks, who plays Effie in the original films, weighed in on Fanning stepping into the role, telling PEOPLE that she was “super excited.” Banks added that she “texted the producers as well, and I think she’s perfect.” With a nod of approval from Effie, it’s a case of waiting for the Games to begin.

Keep On Reading

By Mason Berlinka

Trailer for Jennifer Lawrence’s return to the big screen in No Hard Feelings is giving grooming

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Could the next pope be Black? Peter Turkson’s papal bid could rewrite over 1,500 years of Vatican history

By Abby Amoakuh

Celebrity Big Brother: JoJo Siwa’s partner Kath Ebbs turns off comments amid Chris Hughes romance rumours

By Eliza Frost

Cruz Beckham’s girlfriend Jackie Apostel defends the couple’s age gap relationship 

By Charlie Sawyer

Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz Beckham hire a lawyer to battle misinformation amid growing family rift

By Charlie Sawyer

This Oscar-winning actor is the top pick to play Voldemort in HBO Max Harry Potter reboot

By Eliza Frost

Why isn’t Sylvanian Drama posting on TikTok? Here’s the legal tea

By Charlie Sawyer

Everything you need to know about toxic gossip site Tattle Life and how its founder finally got revealed

By Abby Amoakuh

From dinner parties to grocery flexing: Inside Gen Z’s new language of luxury

By Charlie Sawyer

Emma Watson reveals disgusting paparazzi ambush on her 18th birthday

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Did Chappell Roan push her assistant on the red carpet? We analyse the footage

By Eliza Frost

Taylor Swift is engaged to the boy on the football team, Travis Kelce 

By Eliza Frost

Skibidi, tradwife, and delulu are among new words added to Cambridge Dictionary for 2025

By Eliza Frost

Why is Taylor not Team Conrad in The Summer I Turned Pretty?

By Eliza Frost

Hailey Bieber’s new hands-free lip tint holder has everyone divided 

By Charlie Sawyer

The #MeToo movement is at risk. How the Harvey Weinstein retrial risks doing unimaginable damage 

By Charlie Sawyer

Donald trump to accept $400M luxury plane from Qatar royal family

By Charlie Sawyer

Odd Muse founder Aimee Smale fights back against fast fashion controversy on TikTok

By Eliza Frost

Misogyny, sexism, and the manosphere: how this year’s Love Island UK has taken a step backwards

By Eliza Frost

The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Chris Briney is at the centre of a new love triangle, but this time for an audio erotica story