After waiting seven years, the highly anticipated prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, gives fans a chance to journey back into Panem. The official announcement of a release date by Lionsgate at CinemaCon last April was received by fans with open arms. The Hunger Games film franchise saw massive success ever since the first installment, The Hunger Games, was released in 2012. The last movie, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, was released in 2015, leaving fans of the franchise yearning for more.
The new prequel film is set to take fans into history, being set many years before the events of the first Hunger Games movie. President Snow will be the main focus of the film. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be directed by Francis Lawrence, who has worked on previous films in the franchise. Michael Arndt will also be returning to write for the prequel. He has previously written for Catching Fire. In terms of plot, cast, and other details, here’s all we know about the prequel film!
Updated September 26, 2023: This article has been updated with recent developments about the highly-anticipated The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Songbirds and Snakes: The Plot
Lionsgate
Similar to the first movies of the trilogy being adaptations of novels bearing the same name by Suzanne Collins, the prequel also has its basis in a novel by Collins, published in May 2020. While we can’t expect the film to strictly adhere to the novel, we can most likely expect the film to center more or less on the same core plot of its source text.
The prequel film is set sixty-four years before the start of The Hunger Games, the first installment of the Hunger Games trilogy. To be more specific, it is set in a period known as the Dark Days, ten years before the district’s First Rebellion. Taking place before the birth of the leading characters in The Hunger Games, including Katniss, Peeta, and Gale, the prequel will focus on the early life of the dictatorial Coriolanus Snow (President Snow), whom viewers of the trilogy are familiar with.
The official synopsis for the prequel reads:
“Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-years-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girls tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thunks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanshi pand newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake”
Lionsgate has now released two trailers for the prequel film, giving fans more insight into where the journey back into Panem may take them. The trailers depict the early Hunger Games in all its bleak, gory glory. As the mentors are advised regarding the tributes, what the Games require is spectacles, not survivors. Unlike the highly advanced, theatrical Games that fans are used to seeing thanks to The Hunger Games films, the Games in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes take place in a rundown amphitheater, with the tributes armed with almost skeletal weapons when compared to Katniss and Peeta Games.
Related: The Hunger Games: The 10 Most Underrated Characters in the Franchise, Ranked
The trailers also establish that the film will focus on the relationship between a young Snow and District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray Baird. Unable to confine himself to being just her mentor, Snow develops a romantic relationship with Baird and promises her that he will get her out of the Games. His decision is not very well received by the head gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul, who proceeds to make Snow’s life extremely difficult. Thanks to the little glimpses into the prequel, we now know for certain that The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will tell us how the Games we are used to seeing in The Hunger Games movies came to be. It’ll also give us insight into the roots of other elements of the trilogy, including the rebels’ anthem.
The second trailer was released on September 20, 2023, and gave audiences an even greater look at what to expect from the upcoming sequel.
Songbirds and Snakes: The Cast
Lionsgate Films
Given the timeline of the prequel, none of the characters from the trilogy will be making a return for the prequel (given the fact that many aren’t even born yet). As such, viewers will encounter an entirely fresh, extremely talented cast. Tom Blyth will play the young Coriolanus Snow, who was previously played by Donald Sutherland in the original films.
West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler will star alongside him as Lucy Gray Baird. The head gamemaker role of Dr. Volumnia Gaul will be taken on by Viola Davis. Peter Dinklage, best known for his role on Game of Thrones, is also a part of the cast as Casca Highbottom, the Dean of the Academy and the creator of the Games.
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Joining them will be Hunter Schafer (Euphoria), who will play Tigris Snow, a cousin of Coriolanus Snow. The character is one of the few to appear in both the prequel and The Hunger Games films. Tigris was a Capitol ally in Mockingjay and one of those who helped Katniss and her team in their mission to assassinate the president.
Jason Schwartzman will be the host of the Games in the prequel in his role as Lucretius Flickerman. Taking on the role of other mentors, alongside Snow, in the 10th Hunger Games is Sejanus Plinth, who will be played by Josh Andrés Rivera, who also starred alongside Rachel Zegler in West Side Story. The cast also includes Ashley Liao as Clemensia Dovecote, Max Raphael as Festus Creed and Zone Renée as Lysistrata Vickers.
Release Date
Lionsgate
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is scheduled to release in theaters on November 17, 2023. This coveted third weekend in November release date, which is right before Thanksgiving, is one of the previous Hunger Games films used to great success. Aside from the first Hunger Games, which opened in March 2012, all the other films in the franchise opened on this weekend in November.
With Dune: Part Two moving into 2024, that makes The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes one of the biggest movies of 2023, alongside high profile films like The Marvels, Wish, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Napoleon, to name a few. Time will tell if nostalgia for the YA novels of the 2000s and 2010s will boost the movie to the record highs of the previous film.
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