A Closer Look at Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

A new film belonging to the deeply beloved Hunger Games franchise is coming in 2023. Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel to the Hunger Games we’ve seen on screens before. Here is what you should know about it.

Exclusive: Welcome back to Panem. Your first official look at Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler in ‘@TheHungerGames: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ has arrived. https://t.co/OIrsUxEss5

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) August 16, 2022

As a prequel to the whole story, things in Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to take place around 64 years before the events in Hunger Games happened. The film, based on Suzanne Collins’ novel by the same title, will revolve gradually around the character Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), the future president of the dystopian world Panem (the setting ground of Hunger Games).

In the film, Snow has not yet become the most powerful man in the dystopia. The film gives viewers a glimpse of Snow’s choices and experiences as a high school student who attends the Hunger Games. It features a complicated Snow, unlike the villain viewers have previously seen. He is described by the producer Nina Jacobson as “a young man finding his way in the world, but also makes choices that presage the man he is becoming.”

Preparations have begun. In 2023, return to the Games… pic.twitter.com/6n6YAaqCBb

— The Hunger Games 🔥 (@TheHungerGames) June 5, 2022

The film also features a love story. Snow met a girl, Lucy Gray (Rachel Zegler), in the Hunger Games and was deeply attracted to her. Gray is a tribute from District 12, like Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen. Gray’s personality differs from that of Katniss, as she is a glamorous musician. Francis Lawrence, the director of the film, describes Gray as “a charmer“ and states “Snow has never met a girl like this before.”

Gray has become a precious warmth Snow can find in the cruel game. In the film, the angel-like Gray will present a contrast to the evil Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis), the Head Gamemaker and mastermind behind the Capitol’s experimental weapons division. Such two contradicting forces, together, push Snow to move forward while creating enormous conflict for the character.

Meet your Head Gamemaker. Viola Davis has been cast as Dr. Volumnia Gaul in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – arriving in theaters November 2023. pic.twitter.com/cthcWq8qff

— The Hunger Games 🔥 (@TheHungerGames) August 15, 2022

The film is now under production and is scheduled to release on November 17, 2023. Directed by Francis Lawrence, who had helmed Catching Fire and Mockingjay in the Hunger Games franchise, the film is definitely worth expecting. Though the film doesn’t have many crossovers with the original films, it will allow the viewers to dig deeper into the history of Panem. Viewers will gain a better understanding of how the dystopian world developed into such a brutal state.

On June 5, the film released its first teaser, portraying a golden songbird and a snake. Readers can check out the teaser of Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes below.