In the midst of the rise of sequels, The Hunger Games is determined to revive the saga that shocked us all between 2012 and 2015. Continuing and enriching the story of a leader and the people destined to end abuses, we go back in time with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a story that takes place in the same world as Katniss Everdeen but years before the revolution that ended the power of the Capitol and Coriolanus Snow himself.
It is undeniable that The Hunger Games marked a milestone in youth movies in the early 2010s. Since its great success, which catapulted the acting career of Jennifer Lawrence, we have seen a wave of adaptations of dystopian youth novels on the screen, although none reached the same level as the adaptations of the Suzanne Collins novels. Now, with this Hunger Games prequel, the question arises: will it live up to its predecessor?
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes takes us back 64 years to the events of The Hunger Games. We still know little about the movie that will go by the name The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but we can ease our impatience knowing that its release is scheduled for November 17, 2023.
In this prequel, we go back in time to learn about the life of Coriolanus Snow, who is about to become the president of Panem. At the age of 18, he is appointed as a mentor to Lucy Gray Baird during the tenth edition of The Hunger Games. The young woman from District 12 and her mentor begin to develop forbidden feelings, and Lucy’s singing could be the key to getting everyone’s attention and surviving the Hunger Games.
The cast of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes includes Tom Blyth as young Coriolanus Snow, Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius Flickerman, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, and Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul.
The film is based on the homonymous book by Suzanne Collins, published in 2020 as part of a spin-off and prequel to The Hunger Games saga. The novel continues the story we saw in The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay but is set 64 years earlier.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set in the same dystopian world as The Hunger Games, exploring Coriolanus Snow’s past and the origins of the Hunger Games. It’s a chance to meet the ancestors of some of our favorite characters from the trilogy, before Katniss Everdeen overthrew Snow.
Although it is still early to have a trailer, the production has released a first teaser to raise expectations and look forward to the premiere in November 2023.