The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is currently filming and it’s giving *all* The Hunger Games vibes we’ve been missing for the past few years! The movie, which is a prequel to the book-to-screen trilogy, is set to release in November 2023. While we can’t wait for the games to begin, photos of some of the cast members filming were just released on October 10 and … we’re not ready!
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will focus on Coriolanus Snow, a.k.a. President Snow from The Hunger Games, at age 18. According to Deadline, the movie’s plot is as follows: “Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, the 18-year-old is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a postwar Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12.”
The film is set to star Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul, Nick Benson as Jessup, Ashley Liao as Clemensia Dovecote and Josh Andrés Rivera as Sejanus Plinth.
The Hunger Games and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes author Suzanne Collins spoke about the upcoming adaptation in an interview with Scholatic. “In the first chapter of The Hunger Games, I make reference to a fourth District 12 victor. Katniss doesn’t seem to know anything about the person worth mentioning. While her story isn’t well-known, Lucy Gray lives on in a significant way through her music.”
Suzanne also explained how The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes dives into Coriolanus Snow’s background and how he came to be in The Hunger Games.
“Snow’s authoritarian convictions grew out of the experiences of his childhood, as did his complicated relationships with mockingjays, food, the Hunger Games, District 12, District 13 and women,” Suzanne revealed.
Like everyone in his generation, the author noted that Snow “experienced trauma, loss and deprivation,” but readers will finally learn how his “controlling personality” and his past end up becoming a “bad combination.”
Scroll through our gallery to see the first photos of Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow and Ashley Liao as Clemensia Dovecote!
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