Ten years ago this week, “The Hunger Games” was released in theaters. Based on the novels by Suzanne Collins, the film franchise took the young adult fandom audience by storm, spurring a flurry of page-to-screen adaptations of other YA dystopian tales. But when the dust settled, “The Hunger Games” stood alone.
In the Gary Ross-directed first film, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) gets thrown into the chaos of The Hunger Games, a tradition of her post-apocayptic world that aims to keep the population under control. Katniss represents District 12 in the brutal competition, where a boy and girl from each district fight others to the death until one victor remains. As if survival weren’t enough, Katniss also finds herself in the midst of quite the love triangle between her childhood best friend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) and her fellow tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).
Big names that were gaining fame as they were attached to the film include Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. This trio was of course joined by more experienced actors like Woodey Harrelson, Stanley Tucci and Elizabeth Banks, but a decade on we thought we’d take a look at where the young performers at the center of the franchise are now.
Here’s what the cast — many of whom found grand success after their breakout role in this initial film — is up to now.
Jennifer Lawrence
Lawrence starred in all four films as Katniss Everdeen, the central heroine of the story. At the time of her casting, Lawrence already had an Oscar nomination for her breakout role as Rae in “Winter’s Bone” (2010), but additional success soon followed. She played Mystique in “X-Men: First Class” (2011) and three additional “X-Men” films, and earned a Best Actress Oscar for her turn in “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012). She won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her next film with director David O. Russell, “American Hustle,” and a fourth nomination for “Joy” (2016).
Most recently, Lawrence starred in Adam McKay’s Oscar-nominated “Don’t Look Up.”
Josh Hutcherson
Hutcherson played love interest Peeta Mellark, aka “the boy with the bread.” Before his role in “The Hunger Games,” Hutcherson starred in “Little Manhattan” (2005), “Bridge to Terabithia” (2007) and “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (2008). More recently, he has starred in 2019’s “Burn,” 2020’s “Rita” and several TV shows like “Future Man” and “Ultraman.”
Liam Hemsworth
Hemsworth stars as hometown heartthrob Gale Hawthorne, who breaks many District 12 rules with Katniss so that they can hunt and feed their families. Before “The Hunger Games,” Hemsworth gained prominence on the Australian soap opera “Neighbors” and played Will Blakelee in “The Last Song” opposite future and now ex-wife Miley Cyrus. He also landed a plum role in 2016’s “Independence Day: Resurgence” and more recently, he starred in the Quibi series “Most Dangerous Game” (2020).
Willow Shields
Shields played Katniss’s younger sister Primrose Everdeen. Prim’s name gets drawn, by very unlucky odds, in The Reaping, bringing Katniss to volunteer to take her sister’s place. Right before “The Hunger Games,” Shields starred opposite Emily VanCamp in the Hallmark film “Beyond the Blackboard.” Most recently, she played Serena Baker in Netflix’s “Spinning Out.”
Amandla Stenberg
Stenberg brought to life the beloved character Rue, who competes in The Hunger Games alongside Katniss, representing District 11. Rue is small, but known for her cleverness, and she and Katniss form a bond in the games, until Rue is tragically slain. Since then, Stenberg has starred as Maddy in “Everything, Everything” (2017), Starr Carter in “The Hate U Give” (2018) and Alana beck in “Dear Evan Hansen” (2021). Next up, she has a secretive lead role in the Disney+ Star Wars series “The Acolyte.”
Dayo Okeniyi
Dayo Okeniyi played Thresh, Rue’s co-tribute from District 11. Thresh survives as long as Fox Face and Cato, and he shows mercy to Katniss one time for her attempts to save Rue. More recently, he played Danny Dyson in 2015’s “Terminator Genisys” and starred on the NBC series “Shades of Blue” from 2016 to 2018.
Jack Quaid
Jack Quaid, son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, played the vicious Marvel from District 1, where they are wealthy enough to train for The Hunger Games. Marvel is responsible for Rue’s death, but Katniss gets revenge in the same moments by killing him with a well-placed arrow. “The Hunger Games” was one of Quaid’s first big roles.
Recently he has starred in “Scream” (2022) as Richie Kirsch, and Amazon’s “The Boys” (2019-2022) as Hughie Campbell.
Isabelle Fuhrman
Fuhrman played Clove, another “career” tribute, or someone from a wealthier district that train for The Hunger Games, expecting to get drafted and represent their Districts with pride. Clove, who is known for her deadly accurate knife throwing, is definitely creepy, which makes sense because Fuhrman broke into acting with the role of Esther in 2010’s “Orphan.” More recently, Fuhrman has starred in “Good Girls Get High” (2018), “The Novice” (2021) and “The Last Thing Mary Saw” (2021).
Alexander Ludwig
Ludwig starred as bloodthirsty Cato, Clove’s District 2 counterpart. Cato is the last tribute standing between Katniss and Peeta at the end of their Hunger Games. Before “The Hunger Games,” Ludwig played E.J. Needham in “The Sandlot: Heading Home” (2007) and Seth in “Race to Witch Mountain” (2009). Ludwig bulked up even more and went on to star as Bjorn Lothbrok in “Vikings” (2014-2020) and currently plays Ace Spade in the Starz wrestling series “Heels.”
Leven Rambin
Rambin plays Glimmer, the female tribute from District 1, who dies early on from getting stung by too many tracker jackers. Before “The Hunger Games,” Rambin had television roles in “Wizards of Waverly Place,” “CSI: Miami” and “One Tree Hill.” Shortly after, she starred as Clarisse in another beloved young adult book to screen series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” specifically the second film, “The Sea of Monsters” (2013). More recently, Rambin has appeared in “Mank” (2020) and “The Forever Purge” (2021).
Jacqueline Emerson
Emerson played “Fox Face,” the girl from District 5 who Katniss and Peeta nickname because of her red hair and cleverness. She lasts towards the end of the Games. After “The Hunger Games,” the actress branched out into recording music and entrepreneurship and played roles like Skye in “The Last Survivors” (2014). She was also profiled by OWN. She has several short films in the works.