14 DAY TRIAL // Lionsgate started working on the third and fourth installment in “The Hunger Games” franchise even before the second one, “Catching Fire,” had come out in theaters. Somehow, it came to the conclusion that introducing a movie-only character would be a good idea.
Robert Knepper (whom I fell in love with in “Prison Break”) has been cast as Antonius in the third and fourth films, as Lionsgate announced on the official Twitter account.
“It's official! Please welcome @Robert_Knepper as Antonius to the cast of @TheHungerGames: Mockingjay Parts 1&2,” the movie studio says in the caption to the photo above – click to see it in full.
The announcement might not seem like much to a fan of the movies who has not read the books yet, but for those who did, it meant a great deal of confusion. As they rushed online to ask the most obvious question of all, “Who?!,” Variety provided the answer.
“Antonius is described only as a minister to Donald Sutherland’s President Snow. The character is not part of the Suzanne Collins’ ‘The Hunger Games’ book series,” the trade publication says. In other words, Antonius was created specifically for the films.
“Mockingjay Part 1” comes out in 2014, while “Part 2” drops in theaters one year later. How do you feel about Lionsgate messing with the characters from the original books by adding a new one especially for the big screen?