Lionsgate has dropped a fresh look at The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (via SFFGazette.com) and it's crammed full of interviews and never-before-seen footage from the upcoming prequel.
Taking a deep dive into the movie's lead characters, including Viola Davis' Dr. Volumnia Gaul and Peter Dinklage's Casca Highbottom, we also get some intriguing insights into how this story sheds new light on Coriolanus Snow's transformation into The Hunger Games' villainous President.
District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird will obviously have a huge impact on the young Snow's life and it appears their unexpected romance will have dire consequences for Panem. Lucy is being played by Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Snow White star Rachel Zegler and the video ends by teasing her version of "The Hanging Tree."
Is The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes guaranteed to be a box office hit? Lionsgate will be hoping so, though a great deal of time has passed since the original movies came out and those young adults have likely moved on to other interests. It looks good, though, and the cast is undeniably impressive.
Lionsgate has long waited for an opportunity to revisit The Hunger Games franchise and Suzanne Collins' prequel novel has proved the perfect opportunity to tell another story set in Panem.
Director Francis Lawrence recently admitted he regrets splitting the final movie in two, so we know The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes will deliver a full, self-contained story, There are sure to be ways to expand the franchise moving forward, though.
Take a look at this new sneak peek for The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes below.
Experience the story of The Hunger Games - 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows a young Coriolanus who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from the impoverished District 12.
But after Lucy Gray’s charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates. With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favor. Battling his instincts for both good and evil, Snow sets out on a race against time to survive and reveal if he will ultimately become a songbird or a snake.
The cast includes Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, Josh Andrés Rivera, and Viola Davis.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes arrives in theaters on November 17.