WARNING: This list contains spoilers for the Hunger Games prequel novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
10 years after the first Hunger Games movie took the world by storm, Lionsgate announced the upcoming film adaptation of Suzzanne Collins' prequel novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (via People). Relatively little is known about the adaptation so far, save for the fact that Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth will be in starring roles and Francis Lawrence is returning to direct.
Still, fans who have read the source material will not be going in blind, but they should expect some surprises. Hopefully, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (TBSS) is as visually stunning and musically sound as its critically acclaimed franchise and its newest sneak-peak trailer (via YouTube).
A Different Arena – The Capitol
The Capitol established the first Hunger Games to punish the districts’ uprising. Unlike the previous Games, the 10th anniversary introduced mentors, sponsorships, interviews, and animal mutations. At the time, there were also no “career packs,” and no one volunteered.
The 10th Games was the last time Panem used The Capitol Arena. Before the Games, a bombing exposed tunnels within the structure; tributes implement more strategy rather than having to fight to the death Gladiator-style. The movie should depict a similar stadium: a dilapidated amphitheater with various nooks and crannies with clever uses of tunnels as shelter and hiding spaces.
A Deep Dive Into Coriolanus Snow
Before he became the dastardly President Snow, Coriolanus was the winner of the 5th Hunger Games and a mentor in the 10th Games. 18-year-old Snow was selected as one of the Capitol’s best, brightest, and most promising political figures to advise the District 12 tribute. By the 20th Games, he had become President of Panem.
Snow wasn’t always so cruel, and he genuinely assisted his trainee, Lucy Gray Baird, to survive because he fell “in love” with her despite his initial indifference. Snow wasn’t truly capable of authentic romantic feelings, but this prequel is a departure from his callous nature in the later Hunger Games.
Understanding Lucy Gray Baird, The Girl Who Got Away
During the Games, Lucy Gray Baird – who will be played by Rachel Zegler (via Variety) – used her wits and tactics to win since she couldn’t strongarm opponents. Because of her fearlessness and determination to stay alive, Baird garnered many sponsors who gave her food and water. Eventually, she outmaneuvered and outlasted her opponents.
When she returned to her home district, crowned the 10th Games winner, Baird escaped Snow despite their blossoming “romance.” The movie should expand upon her internal anxiety while maintaining her facade of trust. In a cinematic format, it may be easier to convey her growing malaise and uncertain feelings about Snow.
A Shift From Book to Big Screen
The Hunger Games made some changes from book to big screen, and like all novel-to-movie adaptations, some events, characters, and other minor-to-major details may need to be reworked or cut for the final script of TBSS. However, fans should expect TBSS to include the most essential and entertaining marks of its exciting yet brutal high-fantasy predecessors.
Thus, fans will likely witness the entire process of the 10th Hunger Games, including the reaping, arena, tributes, death, and victor, while building chemistry between Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird. Perhaps the film will endeavor to make Snow a redeemable or empathetic pre-villain.
A Continuation Of The Musical Score
Lucy Gray Baird is a member of the Covey, a musical group that settled in District 12 after Panem closed its borders in the civil war. When she is selected as a tribute, she performs a lamenting ballad that leaves the audience speechless during her Hunger Games interview.
Katniss’s ballad – composed by James Newton Howard – played a central role in her film’s theme; fans should assume that the TBSS movie score will play a more significant role as the story and cast develop. With opposing main characters, the music should also sound diverse and distinctive while incorporating the melodies from the original.
A Subjective Bird’s Eye View
Although the book follows Lucy Gray Baird’s trials, the prequel is actually from Coriolanus Snow’s perspective. Where the book could only provide readers with limited viewpoints, the film series is known for capturing a bird-eye (pun-intended) vista; audiences don’t have to rely on a single narrator per chapter.
It isn’t a stretch for fans to anticipate “insider knowledge” that the characters don’t yet receive. For example, fans may see a more manic yet subtle decline in Snow’s mental state, which an actor’s facial expressions and line intonation deliver quicker than a paragraph. Fans should be at the edge of their seat as the Games progresses through Baird’s eyes.
A Cast That Balances Reader Expectations And Realistic Talent
Film adaptions often attempt to abide by the book’s character descriptions, but it’s unrealistic to expect casting directors to find real actors to distinctly resemble their fictional counterparts. Fans mostly agree it’s more important the actors deliver their roles with appropriate gravitas.
Lionsgate first confirmed Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow (via Variety). As the protagonist of Billy the Kid – based on the real outlaw – Blyth stars as a gunslinger who lies, cheats, and executes adversaries with efficiency but is reportedly a decent man at heart (via Grunge). Fans may see a similarity but divergence when Blyth is Snow since the latter turns into the series’ antagonist.
Hopefully, Cameos From Previous Actors
Most of Hunger Games’ original cast will not feature in TBSS, but fans hope there may be a way to include an actor cameo. It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility. Lucretius Flickerman shares a surname and an eccentric personality like Caesar, the vibrant, entertaining host of the 74th and 75th Games.
Though their lineage isn’t technically confirmed, it’s difficult to imagine their names are merely fortuitous. Perhaps Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci could be persuaded to reappear as this potential relative. This popular fan theory would further tie the story to the cinema. So far, Tucci has remained mum about reprising a role in the prequel.
Explore Baird’s True Fate
The most frustrating part of TBSS is Lucy Gray Baird’s inconclusive, vague fate. She either succumbed to the mayor’s thugs in the woods, or she survived but spent the rest of her life hiding. Either way, neither ending is entirely satisfying. However, for the movie to join the ranks of the best movie prequels ever made, it should seize the opportunity to decide Baird’s destiny one way or the other.
Although fans generally tout remaining true to canonical events, adaptations should add and clarify irresolute endings. It would be a shame to kill off a major character, but fans speculate about the feasibility of her survival (via Reddit). Depressedoverthinker59 prays Baird stole away to the underground rebels in District 13.
Confirm Katniss’s Grandmother
In Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen revealed she is musically gifted. Since Lucy Gray Baird co-leads District 12’s troupe, fans speculate they’re related. Though singing talent isn’t hereditary, an affinity for the arts can be passed down.
The Capitol outlawed “The Hanging Tree” – a subversive folk song – decades ago, but Katniss’s father taught it to her; Mr. Everdeen conceivably learned the haunting tune from a relative as well – probably by Baird herself or at least who knew her well. This detail is one of many accumulating fan-observed coincidences. While Baird’s fate remains an enigma, it’s possible that she anonymously returned home, married, and raised a child once her fame died.