Given how long it took for them to cast the role, i had wondered if the producers of The Hunger Games might simply leave the pivotal character of President Snow to be introduced in the second film in the series. But even with production already underway in North Carolina, they've found a way to add one more huge name to the lineup. Lionsgate announced today on Facebook that none other than Canadian legend Donald Sutherland will be stepping in as Snow, the President of the post-apocalyptic country known as Panem, where each year the brutal Hunger Games are held to prove to the populace that they are powerless under the yoke of the mighty Capitol-- and, by extension, Snow himself.

In the first book in The Hunger Games trilogy Snow is a fairly minor presence, but his role truly expands in the second two books as he emerges as the primary foe for our heroine Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and her band of rebels. Sutherland isn't exactly the physical description I imagined for Snow, who's described as a small, almost frail man-- Sutherland is 6'4-- but surely they brought him in for the talent rather than the perfect physical description. With Sutherland on board they really have completed all the major roles for The Hunger Games, and even though you won't see much of him in the film when it comes out on March 23 next year, rest assured that if the sequels are made, Sutherland will have plenty to bring to the table.