Lionsgate’s released the first official photo from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes featuring the film’s stars Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) and Tom Blyth (Billy the Kid). Zegler is playing District 12’s tribute Lucy Gray Baird and Blyth is a teenage Coriolanus Snow, the character played by Donald Sutherland in the first four Hunger Games films.
The cast of The Hunger Games prequel also includes Peter Dinklage as Cesca Highbottom, the Dean of the Academy; Jerome Lance as Marcus, tribute from District 2; Ashley Liao as Clemensia Dovecote, one of Coriolanus’s closest friends and mentor to a tribute from District 11; Knox Gibson plays Bobbin, tribute from District 8; Mackenzie Lansing is Coral, tribute from District 4; and Aamer Husain plays Felix Ravinstill, mentor to a tribute from District 11.
Jason Schwartzman is on board as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, the host of the 10th Hunger Games and an ancestor of Caesar Flickerman, played by Stanley Tucci in the previous The Hunger Games films.
On August 15, 2022, it was announced that Oscar winner Viola Davis had joined the prequel as Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul. “Dr. Gaul is as cruel as she is creative and as fearsome as she is formidable. Snow’s savvy as a political operator develops in no small part due to his experiences with her as the games’ most commanding figure,” stated director Francis Lawrence (Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1, Mockingjay Part 2).
“From the beginning, Viola has been our dream for Dr. Gaul because of the finely layered intelligence and emotion she brings to every role. A brilliant and eccentric strategist, Gaul is instrumental in shaping a young Coriolanus Snow into the man he will become,” said producer Nina Jacobson. “We are incredibly fortunate to have an actor with Viola’s extraordinary range and presence to play this pivotal role.”
Michael Arndt and Michael Lesslie adapted Suzanne Collins’ novel for the screen. Director Lawrence and Brad Simpson are producing, and Suzanne Collins, Jim Miller, Tim Palen, and Mika Saito are executive producing.
The Hunger Games prequel will open in theaters on November 17, 2023.
Lionsgate’s official synopsis:
Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Blyth) 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 (Zegler), the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor.
Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy Gray’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.
