Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, has added five new cast members as tributes and mentors. The just-announced cast includes Jerome Lance, Ashley Liao (Secret Society of Second Born Royals), Knox Gibson, Mackenzie Lansing (Mare of Easttown), and Aamer Husain (Hudson & Rex).
Per Lionsgate: “Lance will play Marcus, tribute from District 2; Liao will play Clemensia Dovecote, one of Coriolanus’s closest friends and mentor to a tribute from District 11; Knox Gibson will play Bobbin, tribute from District 8; Lansing will play Coral, tribute from District 4; and Husain will play Felix Ravinstill, mentor to a tribute from District 11.”
Tom Blyth (Billy the Kid) and Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) were previously announced to star as Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird, respectively. The Hunger Games veteran Francis Lawrence returns to direct this prequel after having helmed Catching Fire (2013), Mockingjay Part 1 (2014), and Mockingjay Part 2 (2015).
The prequel is based on the novel by Suzanne Collins, with The Hunger Games author involved as an executive producer. Director Lawrence, Nina Jacobson, and Brad Simpson produce, and Tim Palen and Jim Miller are involved as executive producers.
The Plot:
“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.”
