Billy Porter gushes about ‘dream come true’ Hunger Games casting alongside Glenn Close
Porter will play Magno Stift, the estranged husband of Close's character in the prequel film which is due for release in 2026
By Gary Grimes
Pose star Billy Porter has been announced as being part of the cast of the next upcoming The Hunger Games prequel film.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will take place forty years after the 2023 prequel film The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games.
The film has already lined up a number of A-list names for its cast including A Complete Unknown star Elle Fanning, Succession actor Kieran Culkin, and Stranger Things actress Maya Hawke.
And now it has added another two heavyweights to the billing in the form of Porter and the legendary Glenn Close who were announced to be joining the cast earlier this week, as per Deadline.
Following the announement, Porter took to social media where he could not contain his excitement.
“Dreams really do come true,” he wrote in a post on Instagram. “I have loved Glenn Close for pretty much all my life. To be blest to share the screen with this icon is crazy amazing. We are gonna let y’all HAVE IT!!! No crumbs, Henny. NO CRUMBS!!!”
The film’s producer Nina Jacobson commented on the casting: “Billy is one of those rare performers who can dazzle and devastate in equal measure on stage and screen. He made an indelible impression on me when we worked together on Pose, both as an actor and a human being.
“Casting this show has felt like winning the lottery every time one of our idols said yes to us,” Jacobson continued. “To be able to announce Glenn Close and Billy Porter together is an embarrassment of riches that we can all celebrate.”
The gig is yet another win for the Tony Award winning actor who earlier this year appeared on the West End playing the Emcee in Cabaret, having stepped into the shoes of Eddie Redmayne and Jake Shears who have both played the role in recent times.
Porter is next due to make his West End directorial debut as he brings the play This Bitter Earth to the Soho Theatre in July. The play stars It’s A Sin star Omari Douglas and In From The Side actor Alexander Lincoln as “a young black writer and his white activist lover” in a story which asks ‘What is the real cost of standing on the sidelines?’, as per the play’s official description.
In a recent sit down with Attitude from the play’s rehearsals, Porter spoke about his love of directing, saying: “The problem solving is my favourite part. The creation of something, from the page to the stage.”
The GRAMMY Award winning performer is also set to headline Manchester Pride this summer.