Tom Blyth is set to play the starring role in the upcoming prequel for The Hunger Games franchise, but who is the young Snow actor, and what roles has he undertaken in the past? Based on the young adult novels by Suzanne Collins, the four Hunger Games movies were widely successful, with the most recent installment released in 2015. Collins’ prequel to the series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was published in 2020. Set over 60 years before young Katniss Everdeen volunteered for the Hunger Games in the place of her sister, the prequel focuses on antagonist Coriolanus Snow as an eighteen-year-old. Paving the way for his future as a dictator in the dystopian society of Panem, young Snow mentors District 12’s tenth Hunger Games tribute Lucy Gray.
In keeping with most of the previous films in the series, the new Lionsgate movie will be directed by Francis Lawrence, who also directed I Am Legend (2007) and Water for Elephants (2011). The prequel starts filming this year, and audiences have been expectantly waiting to hear about the casting of characters. Competition for main roles in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is likely to be fierce. Previous movies have led to lasting fame for Hunger Games actors like Josh Hutcherson, who played Peeta Mellark, and has been active ever since his role in the movies. Hunger Games also catapulted the iconic Jennifer Lawrence into superstardom after she played lead protagonist Katniss Everdeen.
For now, the casting of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes largely remains a mystery, but it has been confirmed that 27-year-old English actor Tom Blyth will play young Snow. Blyth began his career as a child actor, taking marginal roles in Robin Hood (2010) and the Scottish movie Pelican Blood (2010). After honing his skills in several short films throughout the 2010s, Blyth landed a starring role in the award-winning British coming-of-age film Scott and Sid in 2018. Yet his career has really taken off in the past couple of years, as Blyth graduated from prodigious New York acting school Julliard in 2020 and soon rose to stardom.
Recently, he has played several significant roles in high-budget movies and TV shows. He plays film director Glen Byam Shaw in the British biographical drama Benediction, which explores the life of war poet Siegfried Sassoon, with the movie set to release in summer 2022 in the UK and the US. The actor has also been busy with his television roles. He has a guest role in HBO’s The Gilded Age, and a starring role as the titular western gunslinger in Epix’s new series, Billy the Kid.
Blyth’s leading role as a young Snow The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will undoubtedly bolster his recent emergence onto the big screen, and could be his ticket to lasting fame. Blyth appears to have a preference for historical dramas, and is set to star as sportsman Bobby Sanders in the upcoming historical comedy Discussion Materials. This said, his Hunger Games casting suggests that the up-and-coming actor can adapt to roles in a variety of genres. Blyth is definitely one to watch, and many are excited to see how he addresses tyrannical President Snow's youth in The Hunger Games prequel.