Welcome to the 10th annual Hunger Games!
Deadline reports that the first round of tribute and mentor characters has been cast for the upcoming The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Jerome Lance will play District 2 tribute Marcus, with Knox Gibson (Forgive Us Our Trespasses) as District 8 tribute Bobbin and Mackenzie Lansing (The Deuce) in the role of Coral, tribute from District 4.
Ashley Liao (Fuller House) joins the cast as Clemensia Dovecote, a close friend of Coriolanus Snow and a mentor to a tribute from District 11; Aamar Husain will play Felix Ravinstill, mentor to the second District 11 tribute.
The new additions to the cast will star opposite the already-announced Tom Blyth (Benediction) and Rachel Zegler (West Side Story, Snow White).
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Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is based on the 2020 prequel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. Set 64 years before the events of the first novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes centers on a young Coriolanus Snow before his rise to power as the tyrannical President of Panem. Clinging to the remnants of a good family reputation in a post-war Capitol, 18-year-old Coriolanus (Blyth) is the last hope for the once-proud Snow lineage. A brilliant, calculating high school student, Snow is distressed when he is assigned to serve as mentor to Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), the female tribute from the deeply impoverished District 12. When Lucy Gray commands the attention of the nation with a defiant act at her reaping, Snow formulates a plan to turn the odds in their favor. As Snow and Lucy Gray grow closer and the upcoming Hunger Games draws near, and the pair are forced into a race for survival that will unmask who is a songbird and who is a snake.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes hits theaters on November 17, 2023.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Sees Director Francis Lawrence’s Return
Lionsgate Entertainment
Although the time jump means we won’t see any familiar faces from the original trilogy on screen, a big name in the $3 billion grossing franchise is returning behind the scenes. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be directed by Francis Lawrence, who directed the final three films of the franchise: Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part I, and Mockingjay Part II.
Per Deadline, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson will produce alongside Lawrence; author Suzanne Collins, Tim Palen, and Jim Miller will serve as the executive producers. The latest draft of the screenplay is by Michael Lesslie, building on Collins’ novel and an earlier draft by Michael Arndt. Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien will oversee on behalf of Lionsgate.
