‘Hunger Games’ Director Reveals Why Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Son Wasn’t Cast as Plutarch

Kelli BoyleWed, August 5, 2026 at 3:46 PM UTC

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Francis Lawrence and Cooper Hoffman on set of 'The Long Walk'; Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy in 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' - Murray Close/Getty Images; Everett Collection

Viewers will meet a younger Plutarch Heavensbee in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel movie Sunrise on theReaping, but the role, played in elder form onscreen by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, will not be played by his actor son, Cooper Hoffman. Jesse Plemons will play the Panem gamemaker. Sunrise on the Reaping director Francis Lawrence (who has directed every Hunger Games film but the first one) has now explained why he didn’t cast Seymour Hoffman’s son in the role. And it’s a pretty simple answer.

Hoffman met Lawrence when starring in 2025’s The Long Walk alongside David Jonsson. Lawrence started working on Sunrise on the Reaping while The Long Walk was filming. The director told The Hollywood Reporter that he wants to continue working with Hoffman, but he was just too young to play Sunrise on the Reaping‘s Plutarch.

“I love to work with people over and over, and Cooper is high on that list, but we needed someone who felt considerably older than Cooper is,” Lawrence said.

Murray Close/Getty Images

Young Plutarch is in his 20s or 30s in Sunrise on the Reaping and around 50 years old in the original Hunger Games franchise. Plemons is 38, and Hoffman is 23. The book and film are about Haymitch Abernathy’s (Joseph Zada and Woody Harrelson) games in the second Quarter Quell. Haymitch is 17 in this story.

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Lawrence said it was a meaningful experience to work with Hoffman and see how similar he was to his dad.

“I will say that meeting Cooper the first time [for The Long Walk] was very powerful,” Lawrence shared. “To see, and feel, the similarities they both have, it made me emotional.”

Seymour Hoffman first debuted as Plutarch in 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which came out in November 2013. He died in February 2014 but had filmed The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 before his death. He appeared posthumously in Part 1 in 2014 and Mockingjay Part 2 in 2015.

Hoffman told The Hollywood Reporter that getting to learn things about his dad from Lawrence was a highlight of working on The Long Walk. While Hoffman hasn’t joined The Hunger Games franchise, there are fans online vying for him to be cast as Scott Summers/Cyclops in Marvel’s new X-Men movies. Hoffman’s Long Walk costar David Jonsson is Marvel’s new Black Panther.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, In Theaters Friday, November 20

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”