Though The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 isn’t due to hit theaters until November of this year, the dystopian action-adventure is filming back-to-back with the series’ final installment, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, which means that Lionsgate is working to cast roles for both films simultaneously. Today, The Killing actress Michelle Forbes has joined the cast as Lieutenant Jackson.
In the YA trilogy from which The Hunger Games series was adapted, written by Suzanne Collins, Jackson first appeared midway through Mockingjay. A member of District 13, which paid a terrible price for rebelling against the all-mighty Capitol of futuristic Panem, Jackson was also a skilled sharpshooter who assisted protagonist Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in her uprising.
The Hunger Games franchise has proved highly successful both at the box office and with critics. Expectations are high for Mockingjay, especially given that Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence is back behind the camera, and Forbes’ casting just adds another talented performer to what is already a supremely exciting ensemble.
Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Sam Claflin, Willow Shields, Jeffrey Wright, Jena Malone and Paula Malcolmson are all set to reprise their roles. Other new castings for the film include Natalie Dormer, Julianne Moore and Gwendoline Christie.
Forbes is best known for her roles on beloved sci-fi drama Battlestar Galactica, spy thriller 24, Dick Wolf procedural Chicago Fire, slow-burn drama The Killing, HBO’s In Treatment and vampire thriller True Blood. She also has an upcoming recurring role on BBC America’s sci-fi hit Orphan Black.
Mockingjay – Part 1 will take off at the box office on November 21st, 2014, while Mockingjay – Part 2 will arrive almost a year later, on November 20th, 2015.
