Confirming news we reported on ages ago, today Lionsgate confirmed Sam Claflin (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) will play Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the sequel to this year’s global smash hit. Claflin most recently starred in Snow White and the Huntsman opposite Kristen Stewart as Prince William and is quietly becoming a bit of a blockbuster supporting staple.
Finnick is described in the press release as a District 4 Hunger Games victor, winning when he was only fourteen.
Following up on the events in The Hunger Games, Catching Fire begins as Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.
Catching Fire will be directed by Francis Lawrence and along with those already mentioned, will co-star Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland, Jena Malone, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amanda Plummer and Lynn Cohen. The film will hit theaters on November 22, 2013.
And now, for a bit of fun, check out this “honest” trailer for the first Hunger Games, which hit DVD and Blu-ray this past weekend.
