Before The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 hits theaters, we look back at nearly a decade of Liam Hemsworth movies and TV roles
When The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 is released on November 20, The Hunger Games saga will come to an end. It will also be the final time that Liam Hemsworth’s Gale appears opposite Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss and Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta as the series’ romantic triangle. It seems that it’s just not a YA series if there’s not a love triangle involved.
While Lawrence and Hutcherson have found success outside of The Hunger Game franchise, Hemsworth has not yet reached the same level as his co-stars. To be sure, Hemsworth has earned his career. But outside of The Hunger Games, he’s still best known for dating Miley Cyrus and being the younger brother of Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth. Liam Hemsworth actually auditioned for Thor and lost out to his brother!
However, Liam Hemsworth is going to get his post-Hunger Games shot at stardom in next summer’s Independence Day Resurgence. Depending upon on how well that film is received and on how the audience reacts to him, Independence Day Resurgence could be the best opportunity for Hemsworth to prove that he can headline a film and be a box office draw.
Ahead of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, ComingSoon.net has put together a retrospective of Hemsworth’s eight-year career as a professional actor in film and television. Keep in mind, he’s only 25! There’s still a lot of time left for Hemsworth to make his mark in Hollywood.
Liam Hemsworth Movies and TV Spotlight: Neighbours (2007)
Like so many Australian actors before him, Hemsworth’s first breakout role was on the long-running TV soap opera Neighbours. For almost a year, Hemsworth had a recurring role as Josh Taylor, a surfer who became a paraplegic after an accident. Josh was the love interest of Bridget Parker (Eloise Mignon), a character who was partially paralyzed on one side of her body.
However, Josh and Bridget’s budding relationship was extremely short-lived, as she preferred Declan Napier (James Sorensen) to Josh.
Liam Hemsworth Movies and TV Spotlight: Triangle (2009)
Horror films are a rite of passage for young actors and actresses, but it’s rare to find a film in which the victims get to die more than once! In Triangle, Hemsworth played Victor, a teenage runaway who lived with Greg (Michael Dorman). The film’s focus was on Jess (Melissa George), a single mother of an autistic child who found herself in a horrific time loop. And when Jess tried to warn Victor about his fate, she only made things worse for him…
Liam Hemsworth Movies and TV Spotlight: The Last Song (2010)
Prior to The Hunger Games, The Last Song was Hemsworth’s most well known film. The Last Song was adapted from Nicholas Sparks’ novel of the same name and it placed Hemsworth as the male lead opposite Miley Cyrus, whom he went on to date in real life.
In the film, Hemsworth played Will Blakelee, the love interest of Cyrus’ Ronnie Miller. As you might expect from a story by Sparks, the romance between Will and Ronnie was anything but smooth. And yet somehow, it all worked out in the end.
Liam Hemsworth Movies and TV Spotlight: The Hunger Games (2012)
Two years later, Hemsworth had a even bigger breakout role as Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games. Gale was the best friend and hunting partner of Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen. The early part of the story also suggested a romance between Gale and Katniss. However, Hemsworth’s character was sidelined for most of the film while Katniss and her other suitor, Peeta, were trapped in the 74th Annual Hunger Games, where they pretended to be madly in love in order to get out alive.
Liam Hemsworth Movies and TV Spotlight: The Expendables 2 (2012)
Hemsworth was actually cast in the very first Expendables movie, but his part was cut from the finished film. For The Expendables 2, Hemsworth played Billy “The Kid” Timmons, a former sniper for the U.S. military who was one of the next generation of The Expendables.
Billy’s role in the film was fairly small, but it was the fate his character that galvanized the team against Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme).
Liam Hemsworth Movies and TV Spotlight: Love and Honor (2013)
Love and Honor was the first post-Hunger Games leading role for Hemsworth, who portrayed Mickey Wright, a U.S. soldier in Vietnam. Mickey accompanied his friend, Dalton Joiner (Austin Stowell) back to the United States where they pretended to be AWOL in order for Dalton to win back his girlfriend before they returned to the Vietnam war.
The film only got a limited release in the U.S., but Love and Honor made less than $20,000 at the box office.
Liam Hemsworth Movies and TV Spotlight: Paranoia (2013)
Hemsworth didn’t fare much better with Paranoia, which had a bigger budget than Love and Honor…and it also bombed at the box office. Sure, Paranoia made $13 million, but it lost a lot of money and it failed to bring in an audience despite surrounding Hemsworth with a talented cast that included Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford, and Amber Heard. Hemsworth even got top billing, so there’s no escaping the blame for Paranoia.
Within the film itself, Hemsworth portrayed Adam Cassidy, an inventor who found himself trapped between rival tech moguls, Nicholas Wyatt (Oldman) and Augustine Goddard (Ford), in a tale of corporate espionage.
Liam Hemsworth Movies and TV Spotlight: Empire State (2013)
How is that a movie with Hemsworth, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Emma Roberts in the three leading roles only got a direct-to-video release? The only conclusion that makes sense is that the backers of Empire State had no confidence that it could succeed in theaters. Even though Empire State reportedly made over $3 million on home video, it still didn’t come close to covering the film’s budget… which means that it’s another flop on Hemsworth’s post Hunger Games’ résumé.
Empire State had the distinction of being based on an interesting true story about the largest cash robbery in U.S. history. Hemsworth played Chris Potamitis, an armored car company’s security guard who got pulled into a robbery plan by his friend, Eddie (Michael Angarano). The Rock played Detective Jerry Ransome, the man tasked with finding the stolen money and taking down the men who took it.
Liam Hemsworth Movies and TV Spotlight: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
Hemsworth’s third appearance in The Hunger Games saga was actually more important than his first two turns in the franchise. In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, Gale was able to come to the forefront and fight by Katniss’ side as she became the Mockingjay, a symbol of the rebellion against President Snow’s (Donald Sutherland) regime. Gale also went on the dangerous mission to rescue Peeta from the capitol, even though he suspected that Katniss had deeper feelings for Peeta than she had for him.
If nothing else, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 was a much better showcase for Hemsworth than the two previous films.
Liam Hemsworth Movies and TV Spotlight: Independence Day Resurgence (2016)
Hemsworth is playing Jake Morrison in the much-anticipated sequel to Independence Day, and he’s getting third billing behind returning stars Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman. Very little is known about the storyline of Independence Day Resurgence other than the fact that the aliens return to Earth 20 years after the original invasion in order to finish the job. But this time, Earth has used the alien technology to improve its defenses.
This is another Roland Emmerich film, so we can probably expect a lot of famous landmarks to blow up in spectacular fashion.
