Elle Fanning Says Hunger Games Fans Got Her Cast As Effie

The odds have ever been in Elle Fanning’s favor. Before she was officially brought into the Hunger Games universe as a younger version of the Capitol’s most attention-grabbing fashionista, Fanning was already being closely associated with the part of Effie Trinket thanks to a very vocal fan-casting campaign. Now that she’s got the role, Fanning is revealing just how instrumental the fans were in getting her to play a younger version of Effie.

Ever since Suzanne Collins’ new iteration of the Hunger Games saga, Sunrise on the Reaping, hit bookshelves earlier in 2025, fans have been feverishly pitching which actors should play the key roles in the film adaptation. The movie won’t premiere until the fall of 2026, but the full cast has already been announced, as production is slated to begin soon. Perhaps the biggest casting victory for fans was when Fanning was confirmed to play Effie Trinket in a May 20 announcement. Fanning had been one of the most prominent fan-casts to take over the role of Effie from Elizabeth Banks, who played the District 12 escort in the original movies. Sunrise on the Reaping, which is set 24 years before the first Hunger Games movie, will see Effie in her early 20s.

A couple months after her casting, Fanning opened up about how the social media discourse was a large factor in landing her the part. “I think fans made this happen, in a way,” Fanning said in a July 27 MTV interview. “Because the studio said they were getting hounded online, with like ‘Elle needs to play Effie!’”

The actor also revealed that she’s been in touch with Banks now that she’s preparing to start filming Sunrise on the Reaping. “I’m a huge fan, and Effie has always been my favorite character. Elizabeth Banks brought so much, even beyond the book, layers to that character,” Fanning said. “I love her. And I have gotten to talk to Elizabeth. We texted, and she sent me flowers, and said ‘May the odds be in your favor.’”