Philip Seymour Hoffman's death will not affect 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay' movies except for one crucial scene

The world is still reeling from the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who passed away at the age of 46 after he was found in his New York apartment of a suspected drug overdose. The actor was set to reprise his role as Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2, and Lionsgate revealed earlier this week that he had completed Part 1 and had only one week of filming left on Part 2.

Now, The Hollywood Reporter notes that Hoffman had "one major, emotional scene" left for Part 2 and posted the following quote from an unnamed Lionsgate executive, who said that the actor's death would not affect the final product:

"We're all extraordinarily sad. But as it relates to production, it's going to have no impact. Obviously, we're going to have a couple of work-around issues but the movie will be creatively whole. His performances in both [remaining] movies will be up to the best of his craft. We feel it will be a good tribute to him."

The site asked the executive to expand on the scene, but the person replied, "Why would I want to give people something to look for two years from now?" The last movie in the Hunger Games series is scheduled for release in Nov. 2015.

The report goes on to quote a source "with ties to the project" who said that, with the exception of one big scene in the final movie, "they seem to have plans that don' seem very complicated" in order to finish both movies without Hoffman.

"You can do digital things. You can have conversations where you're not focusing on him, but the people he's talking to," the source said.

Finally, Rob Legato, a veteran effects supervisor who most recently worked on Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, told THR that technology could help generate Hoffman's likeness, though some scene rewrites could be necessary.

"These days the technology of using someone's likeness is a whole lot easier to do," Legato said. "I won't say you could generate a Philip Seymour Hoffman with all the acting ability, but you could certainly replicate him for a shot or two."

How do you think the movies would play out without Hoffman? Let us know in the comments below.