Today's Evil Beet Gossip

So They Finally Got Around to Casting Finnick in Catching Fire

A photo of Sam Claflin

And it’s this guy! His name is Sam Claflin, and you might recognize him from his role as the prince in Snow White and the Huntsman, or possibly from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, where he played a guy named Phillip. But whoever he was before, it doesn’t matter now. Because now, he’s going to be in the movie based on the second book of the Hunger Games trilogy. And there’s no going back from this.

We’re going to talk about this casting now, but first, a real quick note about spoilers. I’m going to give you some very, very light ones, but you’re not allowed to give me any, ok? I mean, feel free to discuss it in the comments, but please only do so in terms of “oh, he seems good because Finnick’s character is like this” or “Finnick is supposed to have these features, so he looks like what I imagined him to look like,” and not like “I don’t like this because at the end of the book Finnick gets eaten by a dragon when he’s trying to ride a pegasus to the moon to escape from the games.” Deal?

All right, you guys, let’s do this. It’s about to get vaguely spoilery in here.

Ok, I just started reading Catching Fire again. I had digital copies before, but I think that sort of reading gets old after a while, so I got the actual books. I’m about halfway through right now – I’m just to the part where Katniss is starting to train for the games – so I’ve only seen a bit of Finnick so far, just enough to get a general description and a bit of dialogue. And based on that, I think that Sam Claflin here is ok, but he seems a little too pretty. Do you know what I mean? I know that Finnick is supposed to be gorgeous, but I thought he was supposed to be a little rugged too, you know? Like, when he made his first entrance, when he offered a sugar cube to Katniss and was all charming with his green eyes and all, I immediately thought of Dean Winchester (or Jensen Ackles, if you live more firmly in reality than I do). I think (so far) that he would have been wonderful for the role if he was a little younger. But Sam, based on his performance in Snow White and just his general demeanor, seems a little too … nice. He seems like the sweet boy-next-door type, and I don’t think that’s who Finnick is. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how he does. Over a year from now. Next November.

But what do you think?

6 CommentsLeave a comment

  • EMILY I must admit I thought of you as soon as it was official — weird how I wanted to comment it with you lol. Anyway yeah I don’t like him either, he is indeed too pretty. I wanted someone more manly. My two favourites were Garrett Hedlund and Jesse Williams. I’m rather gutted because Finnick is a character that’s pivotal to the series and loads of depth. The acting needs to be on point and I don’t know if Claflin can deliver it (I thought he was bland as fuck on SWATH, although script didn’t help). I really hope I am proven wrong though.

    • Hooray! But yeah, I’d read that Finnick goes on to be an important character (and thank you SO MUCH by the way for your lack of spoilers, it has been so hard to avoid them with all the casting news), and it was disheartening that I thought he didn’t fit after reading what little information I have about him.

      Also, I just spent a good ten minutes looking at pictures of Jesse Williams and his dreamy eyes, so thank you for that!

      • You’re welcome, I don’t like spoilers and in this case it wasn’t necessary! Also, Jesse Williams, oh my days <3

  • He’s not what I pictured, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until I see him in action – I didn’t think Anne Hathaway would be a good Catwoman, and I was pleasantly surprised, so I think I’ll wait and see with this one. It helps that I find him pretty attractive (though, as I said, not what I had pictured – I had imagined a Garret Hedlund type too)