Despite Tony Shalhoub’s name being linked to the role back in July when Amanda Plummer was cast, Jeffrey Wright will be playing Beetee in Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire.
Adapted by Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt from Suzanne Collins’ second novel, Fire finds Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) returning from winning the 74th Games and almost immediately packed off on the Victor’s Tour of all the districts. With rebellion simmering ever hotter around the outlying areas, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and his game makers decide that the 75th Games – falling on what’s known as the Quarter Quell – will be something quite different, with Katniss and Peeta forced back into the arena to compete against other previous winners.
Beetee is one of the odder characters to re-enter the arena, but his keen electronics expertise soon proves useful, and he earns the nickname “Volts.”
He’s joining a cast that includes veterans Lawrence, Hutcherson, Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Hemsworth, Toby Jones, Stanley Tucci and Willow Shields, plus fellow newcomers Plummer, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Catching Fire will start shooting this month for a November 22, 2013 release.
Wright, who was last seen in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, will next crop up in Broken City.