The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel that recounts the rise of President Coriolanus Snow, played by Donald Sutherland in the first Hunger Games trilogy.
Here, he's played by Tom Blyth (Scott and Sid, Billy the Kid) and isn't the cold and calculating, tyrannical president of Panem seen in the Jennifer Lawrence-led film series.
The prequel book was released on May 19, 2020, ten years after the final entry in the Hunger Games novel series, Mockingjay, which was released on August 24, 2010. Mockingjay was adapted into a 2-part film, with the final installment released on November 4, 2015.
Co-starring alongside Blyth in the film is Rachel Zegler (Shazam! Fury of the Gods, West Side Story), who portrays Lucy Gray Baird, a Hunger Games champion previously mentioned in the original film trilogy.
On Zegler's role, director Francis Lawrence previously told Empire Magazine, "Katniss was an introvert and a survivor. She was quite quiet and stoic, you could almost say [she was] asexual. Lucy Gray is the opposite. She wears her sexuality on her sleeve, [and] she really is a performer."
Lawrence went on to say that the title of the film is in reference to Lucy Gray and Snow and how their complex relationship evolves to eventually reveal which one is the songbird and which one is the snake.
Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and Part 2) directed The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes from a script written by Michael Lesslie (Macbeth, The Little Drummer Girl) and Michael Arndt (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire).
In addition to Blyth and Zegler, the film also stars Peter Dinklage as Casca "Cas" Highbottom, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, Josh Andrés Rivera as Sejanus Plinth, Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman, and Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul.
Experience the story of THE HUNGER GAMES — 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows a young Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray’s charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates. With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favor. Battling his instincts for both good and evil, Snow sets out on a race against time to survive and reveal if he will ultimately become a songbird or a snake.