The Hunger Games prequel movie is officially happening. At CinemaCon on April 28, Lionsgate announced that the movie, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is currently in production and will be released Nov. 17, 2023.
The movie is based on Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins’ prequel of the same name that was released in May 2020. The plot turns its attention to President Snow when he was just 18 years old. He’s chosen to be the mentor of Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from District 12 during the 10th Hunger Games, while he attends the academy in the Capitol. The story’s events take place 64 years before the original novels and films, and only 10 years after Panem’s first rebellion. While Katniss Everdeen’s Panem is under harsh government control, this Panem is still grappling with the after effects of war and rebuilding.
At CinemaCon, Lionsgate played a clip, but didn’t reveal anything specific about the movie. Instead, it showed icy tree branches alongside text that read, “The world will discover who is a songbird and who is a snake.”
The original Hunger Games movies starred Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, the unlikely and reluctant hero who becomes a symbol of revolution. Alongside Lawrence were castmates Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Amandla Stenberg, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, and Sam Claflin. Donald Sutherland played the menacing President Snow in the original films.
