Welcome to The Hunger Games Countdown, our resident expert's continued guide to all things Hunger Games on the way to the film's sequel, Catching Fire.

The Best of the Best in Recent Hunger Games News

We’ve got a handful of cast photos floating around the Web worth checking out. Woody Harrelson steps out of Haymitch’s shoes to enjoy some Lenny Kravitz music while franchise newcomers Lynn Cohen, Stephanie Leigh Schlund, Meta Golding and Bruno Gunn posed with the cast of Cirque Du Soleil Totem after the show’s premiere. Looks like they’re all having a blast, but the thing that catches my eye is how comfortable Cohen looks hanging out on one of the performer’s back. HG Girl on Fire tracked down a holiday-appropriate shot of Jennifer Lawrence. She may be rough and tough as Katniss, but when it comes to haunted houses, clearly Lawrence is vulnerable to a good scare.

Catching Fires’ Plutarch Heavensbee, Philip Seymour Hoffman, got chatty with The Independent, mainly discussing The Master but also touching on the Hunger Games books, revealing, “I'm in the middle of reading the last one now; they're very special.” I’ll leave it at that as the second quote is a bit of a spoiler, but if you’d like to read on, check out the full article right here. Toby Jones is on a press tour as well for his upcoming release The Girl, but ET Online got to him about Catching Fire. When asked about the state of the script, Jones responds, “It’s a bit of relief, I must say. I was worried it might just be repetitive, but it’s not. The script is just tremendous!”

Last up via The Hob, a behind-the-scenes update: Film Music Reporter confirmed that Hunger Games composer James Newton Howard will return to score Catching Fire, a big plus for consistency and the caliber of the film, too.

Halloween in Panem

Imaging Halloween in Panem started out as a creative approach to this week’s Hunger Games Countdown, but now it looks as though I’ll have to live vicariously through the write-up as, courtesy of Hurricane Sandy, we don’t really have Halloween-appropriate conditions in Manhattan. Thankfully, the fun and games the fandom imagines going down in the Capitol and the districts should the Hunger Games characters get into the holiday spirit, sound like an absolute blast!

Beetee

Costume: With a penchant for harnessing the power of lightning, Beetee gets his superhero on, dressing up as The Amazing Spider-Man villain Electro.

Trick: Who isn't the slightest bit afraid of the dark? Living in a city packed with flashy florescent lights, all Beetee's got to do is hack into the utility system and turn out the lights to give the Capitol folk a quick scare.

Treat: Beetee's typically the guy creating the explosions, but once in a while he prefers to "taste the explosion" by tossing back packets of Pop Rocks.

(Perri, Movies.com)

Katniss Everdeen

Costume: Knowing how Katniss is, I picture her sticking it to the Capitol by showing up for the Halloween Ball at President Snow's mansion dressed as Seneca Crane. Similar to how she freaked out the Gamemakers during her training session, this costume is bound to scare the pants off of any Gamemaker present.

Trick: Ever the resourceful one, Katniss' costume is her trick.

Treat: Having grown up with less, Katniss isn't one for gorging on candy, but her resolve weakens once she sees the cheese-bun-shaped gummies Peeta made as a joke for her.

(Crystal, Mockingjay.net, FictionalFood.net)

Haymitch

Costume: Since Haymitch always seems to get a laugh out of making fun of Katniss, he dresses up as Drunken Katniss, with a hideous braid wig combined with his own five o'clock shadow, lipstick he's applied himself, and a bow he holds backwards.

Trick: At the Halloween party, Haymitch does a reverse punch-spiking and switches out all the liquor bottles with water, stashing the real stuff in his house for later.

Treat: See here.

(Crystal, Mockingjay.net, FictionalFood.net)

Johanna Mason

Costume: With her sassy attitude and cunning ability to strategize, Johanna emulates her favorite superhero, Black Widow, a member of the Avengers.

Trick: Johanna incorporates Black Widow's high tech weaponry by carrying a specially designed ax that gives her the precision and strength to throw it from far distances to give anyone that annoys her a very close call.

Treat: While Johanna is able to throw an ax with great precision, she likes to give the Capitol citizens something to think about by indulging in her favorite candy bar, Butterfinger.

(Sheila, HG Girl On Fire)

President Snow

Costume: When you're the tyrannical ruler of a nation, not just any costume will do. Snow keeps it simple, elegant and authoritative by dressing up in full Roman emperor garb.

Trick: Poisoned candy, of course. Would you expect anything less?

Treat: Given his obsession with roses, it seems only natural that President Snow's treat of choice would be rosewater-flavored Turkish Delight.

(Savanna of The Hunger Games Fireside Chat)

Finnick Odair

Costume: Dressing up as a young Triton, the Merman son for Poseidon and Amphitrite in Greek mythology, Finnick embraces his love of the sea and his killer abs.

Trick: Finnick will go around sweeping all the "damsels in distress" off their feet in the Capitol, but rush away before fulfilling any fantasies, using the excuse that his lower half is a fish!

Treat: It won't be all disappointment! Finnick will leave everyone with a token of yummy saltwater taffy in memory of him and the sea.

(Kait of Victor’s Village)

Peeta

Costume: District 12's favorite baker boy sticks to what he knows and will be dressing up as the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Of course.

Trick: It's the oldest trick in any baker's Halloween trick book -- don't be grossed out by those "witches fingers" that Peeta's trying to serve you. They're really just cleverly shaped breadsticks. Delish!

Treat: Peeta hates having to choose just one treat, so he baked up a whole batch of cupcakes, cookies and brownies for his friends to enjoy. He even frosted some to look like tree bark.

(Sara of The Hunger Games Examiner)

Effie Trinket

Costume: Effie's known for her eccentric everyday style, but for Halloween she's doing what every Mean Girls wannabe does -- she's adding "sexy" to the first part of her costume, so she's going as a "sexy Katniss Everdeen." She's basically wearing lingerie -- with a bow and arrow.

Trick: She put your name in the Reaping bowl twice. Just kidding, no she didn't. Or did she?

Treat: Mahogany tables for everyone!

(Sara of The Hunger Games Examiner)

Caesar Flickerman

Costume: Caesar has a real knack for making people smile, but for his Halloween costume he'd like to go darker and be the Joker from Batman.

Trick: Amongst all of his positive attributes, he also possesses the power of persuasion. Caesar will spin words and have people agreeing to things before they can realize what happened, or that anything was out of the ordinary at all.

Treat: At the end of the day, all Caesar is looking for is a good laugh. He would load up on some Laffy Taffy before calling it a night.

(Kelsey of My Hunger Games)

Cinna

Costume: With his penchant for subtle but striking costumes with political undertones, Cinna goes with Seneca Crane as his costume -- though the beard would slowly change from black to the shade of Nightlock and then start dripping blood. Creepy and significant.

Trick: He obviously likes to work with fire so faking a fiery disaster seems right up his alley. While at a party he could set himself on fire and freak a few people out.

Treat: Red Hots. Fiery cinnamon. How perfect?

(Hamilton of My Hunger Games)

There are 386 days until the release of Catching Fire.