Sunrise On The Reaping Just Added A Yellowstone Star To The Cast, And He Has A Really Cool Connection To The Book

As a big Yellowstone fan, I’m always thrilled to see members of the cast in other projects I’m excited about. So, I was so ecstatic to learn that Jefferson White, who played Jimmy on Taylor Sheridan’s Western, was cast in Sunrise on the Reaping. However, this announcement is extra special for another reason, because White has a deep connection to Haymitch’s book.

Jefferson White Has Been Cast In Sunrise On The Reaping

With the principal cast for the upcoming book-to-screen adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping set, the film has been announcing more of the supporting characters as of late. So, the most recent announcement on the movie's social media revealed the actors who will be playing Mr. McCoy, Asterid, Burdock and Hattie. All of them are minor but important District 12 characters, and here’s the breakdown of who is playing who:

• Scot Greenan is Burdock Everdeen
• Melody Chikakane Brown is Hattie Meeney
• Grace Ackary is Asterid March
• Jefferson White is Mr. McCoy

To break down these characters a bit further, Greenan will play Burdock, a friend of Haymitch and the eventual father of Katniss Everdeen. Asterid March is another friend of Haymitch’s, and she eventually marries Burdock and becomes Katniss’s mother. Hattie employs Haymitch to help her make liquor. And last, but certainly not least, Mr. McCoy is the father of Louella McCoy, one of the girls who is reaped alongside Haymitch for the 50th Hunger Games.

Now, all of this is exciting; however, I want to really focus on White’s casting. Again, I ride for Yellowstone actors, so this would have been great news regardless of what I’m about to say. However, he also has a connection to the book this film will be based on, which makes his casting extra special.

Jefferson White Narrated The Audiobook For Sunrise On The Reaping

Much like how fans were hoping Elle Fanning would play Effie Trinket and eagerly anticipating the casting for characters we also see in the Hunger Games trilogy, I was hoping Jefferson White would wind up in the film.

That’s because he narrated the audiobook for Sunrise on the Reaping. He was the voice of Haymitch when it came to Suzanne Collins’ book, and since he’s also an actor, I was crossing my fingers that they’d cast him in the adaptation. And they did!

Obviously, he’s too old to play Haymitch on screen, and Joseph Zada has been cast as the younger version of the character Woody Harrelson originated on screen. So, I knew that if he was put in the movie, it likely wouldn’t be for a big role. And in the grand scheme of things, Mr. McCoy isn’t a huge character.

However, without spoiling anything, considering Haymitch’s connection to Mr. McCoy's daughter and what happens to Louella in the games, White will have some intense and incredible scenes to be in. He’ll also likely share the screen with Zada, meaning we could see two people who have played Haymitch in the same frame, and that’s pretty neat. Now, all we need is Woody Harrelson.

All this is to say I’m thrilled they found a way to get Jefferson White, the narrator of Sunrise on the Reaping’s audiobook, into this highly anticipated movie. He’s a great actor whom I adore, he did a great job with this novel, and now I cannot wait to see him on screen acting alongside this seriously incredible cast.

The countdown was already on for this film’s November 20 premiere on the 2026 movie schedule. However, now there’s even more reason to be thrilled about what we’ll see on screen, because this remarkable casting ties this movie back to its book in a super fun and meaningful way.