McKenna Grace: Katniss's Dress in Paris, Pink Gown in Sydney
The Hunger Games prequel's global press tour kicked off at Sydney Harbour on October 14. McKenna Grace wore pale pink House of Gilles. Ten days earlier in Paris she wore the dress that burns.
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McKenna Grace and Joseph Zada stood in front of the Sydney Opera House on October 14, 2026, with the harbour behind them, and officially launched the global press tour for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Grace wore a pale pink, floor-length House of Gilles gown with an asymmetric one-shoulder cut, a sheer panel at the waist, and pink flower ornaments in her hair. Stylist Molly Dickson confirmed the designer on Instagram. Zada, who grew up in Sydney, was coming home.
The pink is deliberate. Grace plays Maysilee Donner in the film, a District 12 tribute who goes into the 50th Hunger Games during the second Quarter Quell. She also owns the Mockingjay pin. In Panem, pink is Capitol. Soft, performative, expensive. The story knows what it is doing with that color, and so does Grace.
She Started With the Dress That Burns
Ten days before Sydney, on October 6, Lionsgate hosted "Elegance Is Authority: The Story, Style, and Power of Panem" at the Musée Rodin in Paris. Grace wore a recreation of the wedding dress Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen wears in Catching Fire, the one that burns away on-screen to reveal the Mockingjay beneath it. Grace said she wanted to "pay homage to Katniss." That is one way to put it. Another way is that she showed up to a fashion exhibit in the franchise's most politically loaded garment.
The Catching Fire dress is not a neutral choice. In the books and the films it represents the Capitol's attempt to control Katniss's image, the dress Katniss's stylist Cinna designs to burn on live television and turn her into the Mockingjay in front of every viewer in Panem. Grace wearing it at the franchise pop-up is a statement about continuity and defiance that lands before a single frame of the prequel has been seen.
Zada Is Playing the Mentor Who Becomes Woody Harrelson
Joseph Zada plays a young Haymitch Abernathy, the District 12 tribute who survives the 50th Games and spends the next 25 years drinking himself to sleep before Katniss and Peeta drag him back into purpose. Grace told Variety Australia he is "one of the most talented actors I've ever worked with" and predicted he will become a major star. Zada is 21 and Sydney-born. The first day of the world press tour began on his home ground.
Grace has been blunt about the film's emotional stakes. "It's gonna be really, really sad," she told Variety. The film carries weight the original trilogy built over four films and a decade. The prequel covers the Games that broke Haymitch, which is the event the whole franchise has pointed back to since 2008. That is a significant amount of expectation for a cast that is, on average, about 21 years old.
The Full Roster
Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are returning as Katniss and Peeta, which means the prequel is also a sequel of sorts. The supporting cast includes Elle Fanning, Ralph Fiennes, Maya Hawke, Jesse Plemons, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Whitney Peak, and Billy Porter. Director Francis Lawrence, who helmed the original trilogy's last three films, is back. The film opens in Australian cinemas on November 19, 2026, and in the United States on November 20.
The Sydney event is the first stop of a global tour that will move through major markets before the November release. At the moment, the campaign's main image is Grace in pink by the harbour, and the Catching Fire dress in Paris. Both images have a clear line back to the franchise's central argument about what beautiful things are asked to become.
