The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes is a prequel to The Hunger Games, set way before the original Suzanne Collins trilogy. The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes focuses on a young President Snow and how he rose to power. The book was released in 2020 and has been adapted for the screen for a 2023 release, although it will have to change The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes book, with a potential feature from Jennifer Lawrence, who would be playing her The Hunger Games character Katniss Everdeen’s grandmother, Brandie.
Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes will tell the story of a young Coriolanus Snow and how his career developed from a student to a Game Maker through being a District 12 mentor and Peacekeeper. The Hunger Games prequel explains how Snow gained power and where the corruption for his rise to President started. As a District 12 mentor, the movie will explore how Snow develops feelings for the District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray, and his influence on the development of The Hunger Games, the propagandic battle royale entertainment of the main series. The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes boasts a cast of Tom Blyth as Young Coriolanus Snow, Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, and Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow.
The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes will be very different from The Hunger Games and is set 10 years after the war that resulted in the first annual Hunger Games. At this point, there is a massive amount of resentment from the Districts at the Capitol, and the war's damage is still evident. The Hunger Games are not as developed as they are in The Hunger Games trilogy, with sponsors and betting from the Capitol audiences only just being introduced.
How Many Years Before Hunger Games Is Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes
With The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes being 10 years after the war, it means it is set 64 years before The Hunger Games book and movie trilogy. In The Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers as tribute for the 74th Annual Hunger Games, and she's redrawn in Catching Fire for the 75th, which are specially marked as the Quarter Quell. The timeline of The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes means audiences will hear a lot of familiar names as certain Hunger Games characters will be alive, and they will see aspects of the Hunger Games being developed and introduced that are major features of The Hunger Games, such as the Jabberjays.
Focusing on Coriolanus Snow’s youth will also mean audiences revisit District 12, as he mentors Lucy Gray Baird. Although Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes is set 64 years before Katniss' story in The Hunger Games, the world of Panem will be very recognizable to audiences and will show many new aspects too. The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes is set to release in cinemas on 17th November 2023.