The 'Hunger Games' prequel film is in theaters on Nov. 17.
The Hunger Games are returning to the big screen in the upcoming prequel film The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and fans got a look at the upcoming action when the first trailer was released on Thursday.
The upcoming film tells the origin story of the franchise’s dystopian president and ringleader, Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth, and friends and enemies that shaped him into the nefarious leader fans saw in the original trilogy.
West Side Story's Rachel Zegler plays Lucy Gray Baird, the impoverished District 12 tribute that Coriolanus is assigned to mentor. Lucy is an orphan and a singer, who wows her mentor and eventually, viewers across Panem, with her impressive voice -- before proving in the Games that she's even more cunning than she seems.
"There's a natural goodness built into us all," Lucy says in the trailer. "We can step over that line, into evil, or not."
The trailer also shows Lucy getting reaped into the 10th Hunger Games, and an ominous warning from Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage), dean of the Academy, to Snow about his new role as mentor
"Your job is to turn these children into spectacles, not survivors," he warns.
Watch the full trailer below:
In a press release about the film's casting, the studio described its protagonists as such: "Eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem's attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake."
The film also stars Viola Davis as Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul, Euphoria star Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, cousin and confidante to Coriolanus, and many more.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be released on Nov. 17, 2023.
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