In a time when Hollywood is unable to let a franchise rest for more than a few years before giving it a prequel or sequel, Jennifer Lawrence takes the lead. In the midst of promoting her salacious comedy The Challenge, the American actress has reached out to the Lionsgate studio, which owns the rights to the Hunger Games saga which made her famous in the 2010s.
Asked by Variety if she was tempted to lend her features to the rebellious Katniss Everdeen again, the actress exclaimed facetiously: “Totally. If Katniss comes back into my life, I will find her without hesitation. At this point, these remarks are a simple joke. Inspired by the young adult novels of Suzanne Collins, the Hunger Games saga features young people forced to fight to the death in circus games in a dictatorial post-apocalyptic America nicknamed Panem. Collins’ three novels spawned four feature films between 2012 and 2015.
At the end of the last, the fate of Katniss and her allies, who had succeeded in overthrowing the regime in place at the cost of heavy personal sacrifices and traumas, was sealed and left hardly any door open.
To continue the franchise, Lionsgate once again turned to a novel by Suzanne Collins. In The Ballad of the Serpent and the Songbird, the novelist looks back on the rise of Coriolanus Snow, the terrible tyrant of Panem and enemy of Katniss played by Donald Sutherland. How did he become the intractable, bloodthirsty, manipulative ruler we know? The Ballad of the Serpent and the Songbird tells how fresh out of high school a young Coriolanus Snow, heir to one of the oldest and illustrious families of the Capitol, now penniless, is forced to become the mentor of Lucy Gray, the tribute of the miserable District 12 (the one where Katniss will be born decades later).
With her charm, Lucy Gray captivates the public. Corionalus Snow sees this as an opportunity to change his destiny, and will join forces with the young woman to tip the odds in their favor. Torn between good and evil, Snow embarks on a race against time that will rewrite the history we thought we knew from the Hunger Games.
Seen in the series The Gilded Age, Tom Blyth embodies this Corionalus Snow who still believes in redemption. Lucy, who fans believe may be an ancestor of Katniss, is played by Spielberg’s West Side Story reveal Rachel Zegler. Directed by Francis Lawrence, at the helm of the last three Hunger Games, The Ballad of the Serpent and the Songbird will be released in theaters on November 15. Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage are also in the credits.
