The prequel to The Hunger Games franchise, titled The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, will focus on young Coriolanus Snow's political rise to power. The first film adaptation of the young adult novels by Suzanne Collins premiered in 2012 with three others to follow afterward. The books and films follow Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence), a young woman in a dystopian future where 2 youths from each of 12 districts in the new America, named Panem, are chosen every year to compete in a battle to the death until there is a sole survivor. Katniss volunteers to compete in the Hunger Games in order to take the place of her sister.
The film adaptations of the Hunger Games franchise pulled in over $2.97 billion worldwide, so it's no surprise that Lionsgate has sought to keep things going with a movie version of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Collins' prequel novel was released in 2020 and centers on a younger Coriolanus Snow, the man who will one day go on to be Panem's villainous president. Development on the movie has been underway for a couple years now, and Lionsgate recently announced The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will arrive in theaters in November 2023.
Today, along with the news that Tom Blyth has been cast as young Snow, Lionsgate has unveiled the official synopsis for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The new plot details, which follow along closely with Collins' novel, preview Snow's political rise and his relationship with Lucy Gray Baird. The synopsis reads as follows:
Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow 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, 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’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.
The director of the last three films in The Hunger Games franchise, Francis Lawrence, will also helm the upcoming film. Michael Lesslie is adapting the script from the book, and Collins will be an executive producer. Blyth, who leads Epix's Western series Billy the Kid, will have large shoes to fill as young Snow due to Donald Sutherland's excellently disturbing performance in The Hunger Games films as the president. As the synopsis hints, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes won't shy away from Snow's darker nature, so Blyth could prove to be excellent casting.
With Collins on board to executive produce the film, and Lesslie, the writer of 2015's critically acclaimed version of Macbeth, adapting the novel for the screen, there is potential for a script with plenty of suspense, twists, and turns that fans of the Hunger Games novels know and love. Having Lawrence directing The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes hopefully will also give it a sense of continuity with the past films and the overall world that the franchise takes place in, despite the prequel taking place several years prior to the original books. It already sounds like The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie will hew fairly closely to the novel, so those who enjoyed the book will hopefully be pleased by the film adaptation. Viewers will have to judge for themselves whether the new prequel film can add even more depth to an already complex character when The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes premieres.
Sources: Lionsgate