Let the games begin as “Hunger Games” prequel film “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” slithers into theaters soon.
The latest trailer for the film captures the first televised Hunger Games in Panem. Per the official synopsis, after Lucy Gray (Rachel Zegler) commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, post-war disgraced Snow family member Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.
“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is set 64 years before the events of “Hunger Games.”
Zegler’s Lucy is the tribute for District 12, while Viola Davis plays the Head Gamemaker and Peter Dinklage is the Head of the Academy.
Francis Lawrence directs from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt. Lawrence, Brad Simpson, and Nina Jacobson serve as producers.
Film producer Jacobson told Vanity Fair that Zegler’s character Lucy is not at all like Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss, who led the first batch of “Hunger Games” films. According to Jacobson, Lucy is in fact the “anti-Katniss.”
“She’s a musician, she’s a performer, she’s a charmer,” Jacobson said. “Snow has never met a girl like this before. He is a shape-shifter who craves control but is drawn to a woman who threatens everything he thought he wanted.”
However, Katniss’ family history will be included in the film as an Easter egg for fans, harking back to Suzanne Collins’ YA series.
“Suzanne has done such a great job of going back into the mythology and telling a story about the creation of the world,” Lawrence said. “You get a little background of Katniss. You will obviously get a lot of the background of Snow, the history of the Games, the history of some of the music, where songs like ‘The Hanging Tree’ actually come from. To be able to show a different side of Panem at a different time in its history has been really exciting. It’s completely different stylistically, in terms of design, character, and point of view.”
“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is premieres November 17 in theaters. For all the details on the film, click here and check out the trailer below.
