The Hunger Games franchise may have seemingly ended with Mockingjay Part 2 premiering back in November 2015, only for fans to come to shock as original novel series author Suzanne Collins wrote a new book to show its prequel.
Way before the events of Katniss Everdeen winning for District 12, Collins wrote a prequel story titled The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
The prequel follows a young Coriolanus Snow who mentors a woman from District 12 named Lucy Gray Baird, the first Hunger Games victor for their District before Katniss.
At CinemaCon 2023, Lionsgate released the first trailer for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which you can check out below:
Featured cast members in the trailer for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes are Tom Blythe (Coriolanus Snow), Rachel Zegler (Lucy Gray Baird), Peter Dinklage (Casca Highbottom), as well as Viola Davis (Dr. Volumnia Gaul).
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As seen in the trailer, we get our first look at the 10th Hunger Games ceremony, our first look at Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird along with co-star Tom Blythe portraying the young President Snow.
Snow hands Lucy over a white rose, symbolizing his mentorship with the District 12 tribute, the beginning of it all.
One of the biggest things the Hunger Games fans gushed about was the fact that Lucy Gray Baird had paralleled Katniss Everdeen’s iconic bowing in the first film from the original franchise.
Soon after, Zegler’s response to the tweet drove fans hyping up the prequel film even more, when the actress admitted that: “This was an ad-lib :’)”
While it remains to be seen if The Hunger Games plans on adding more follow-up films after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, fans would be happy to see how book-accurate the prequel book is turning out to be in the trailer.
Looks like we’ll get to see how Coriolanus Snow came to be the ruthless tyrannical President we have long known in the franchise.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes premieres on November 17 this year! Check out for more updates about the prequel here.
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