Mckenna Grace may be heading into the arena in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, but her latest press tour look belongs in a fairytale. The 20-year-old actress showed off an elaborate hairstyle during promotions for the upcoming Hunger Games prequel.
Wearing her incredibly long blonde hair in cascading waves decorated with tiny flowers and colourful butterflies, you'd wonder if she made a detour through an enchanted forest before taking on The Hunger Games. Several delicate braids completed the whimsical look, giving Grace more than a passing resemblance to Rapunzel from Disney's Tangled.
Fans certainly noticed. One Instagram fan account declared Grace 'a real-life Rapunzel,' while another said she was 'giving Rapunzel in real life' and looked as though she had 'stepped straight out of a fairytale.' Looks like Rapunzel showed up at the premiere instead of Maysilee!
Mckenna Grace's Rapunzel Look Comes With a Plot Twist
The comparisons are particularly fitting because Grace has previously made no secret of her love for Tangled. During a 2024 interview with Capital Buzz, the Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire star revealed that playing a Disney princess had been one of her childhood dreams and singled out Rapunzel as a dream role. She called Tangled one of her favourite films and admitted she was 'so obsessed' with it.
Grace later became a popular fan cast for Disney's live-action adaptation, although there is no confirmed evidence that she actually auditioned for Rapunzel. The role ultimately went to Teagan Croft, but Grace's latest look suggests she can still have her Rapunzel dream come true off-screen. No frying pan required.
The fairytale styling is also only the latest standout look from Grace's Sunrise on the Reaping promotional run. During the Sydney launch, she wore a pale pink House of Gilles gown that might as well have been hanging in Rapunzel's wardrobe just hours ago.
From Fairytale Princess to District 12 Tribute
Grace will have less time for flowers and princess gowns once Sunrise on the Reaping reaches Panem. She stars as Maysilee Donner, one of District 12's tributes in the 50th Hunger Games, better known as the Second Quarter Quell.
The story takes place 24 years before the original Hunger Games and centres on a 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy, played by Joseph Zada, long before he becomes a mentor to The Girl on Fire, Katniss Everdeen. Maysilee also holds a particularly important place in Hunger Games history as the original owner of the iconic Mockingjay pin that eventually ends up with Katniss.
Francis Lawrence returns to direct the prequel of The Hunger Games, with a cast that includes Ralph Fiennes as Coriolanus Snow, Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, and Glenn Close as Drusilla Sickle. The film is scheduled to arrive in US cinemas on 20 November 2026.
Until then, Grace may not have landed Rapunzel's tower, but judging by this press tour, she's certainly letting down her long hair to be climbed by flora and fauna. Apparently, the styling odds are ever in her favour.
