Lionsgate’s unveiled the official trailer for The Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, seven months out from its theatrical release. The nearly three-minute trailer opens with Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul (Oscar winner Viola Davis) introducing the creator of the Hunger Games, Dean Cesca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage). Highbottom confirms the 10th annual Hunger Games are about to get underway and introduces the tributes chosen to fight to the death.
The trailer shows a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) and the tribute he’ll be mentoring, District 12’s Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). We’re also treated to our first look at a young Lucky Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman), the first-ever host of the Hunger Games and an ancestor of Caesar Flickerman.
“What happens in there, fueled with the terror of becoming prey, see how quickly we become predator. See how quickly civilation disappears,” says Gaul as the Hunger Games commence.
The ensemble also includes 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.
Fionnula Flanagan is Grandma’am, Coriolanus’s strict grandmother; Isobel Jesper Jones plays Mayfair Lipp, daughter of the mayor of District 12; Flora Li Thiemann plays Livia Cardew, mentor to a tribute from District 1; and Burn Gorman is Commander Hoff, Scott Folan is Beanpole, and Carl Spencer is Smiley, Peacekeepers sent by the Capitol to District 12.
Honor Gillies, Eike Onyambu, and Konstantin Taffet play members of the Covey, a group of nomads in District 12. Michael Greco and Daniela Grubert are Strabo Plinth and Mrs. Plinth, wealthy parents to Sejanus Plinth, Coriolanus’s best friend, played by Josh Andrés Rivera.
Francis Lawrence (Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1, Mockingjay Part 2) directs from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, based on the novel by Suzanne Collins. Lawrence, Nina Jacobson, and Brad Simpson are producing, with author Collins, Tim Palen, Mika Saito, and Jim Miller executive producing.
In addition to releasing the trailer, Lionsgate debuted a new poster and photo from the post-apocalyptic action drama. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes opens in theaters on November 17, 2023.
The Plot:
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes follows a young Coriolanus (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 (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.
