The first image from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has arrived, teasing the love story between Tom Blyth’s Coriolanus Snow and Rachel Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games, following Coriolanus Snow long before he becomes the President of Panem seen in the original films and book series. The film will see him cross paths with Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from District 12.
The first image shows the two characters, portrayed by Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler, in a romantic moment following their meeting in the arena.
Songbirds & Snakes Come Together
Alongside the reveal of the first image from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in Vanity Fair, director Francis Lawrence has said the film “is very much a story about love.”
That love story appears to be blossoming in the first image of Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler in the Hunger Games prequel. Check it out below:
Tom Blyth’s young Coriolanus Snow “is a young man finding his way in the world, but he also makes choices that presage the man he is becoming,” says producer Nina Jacobson. The film sees him caught between Rachel Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird and the sinister influence of Viola Davis’ Dr. Volumnia Gaul.
Meanwhile, Francis Lawrence describes Zegler’s Lucy as “the anti-Katniss,” in reference to Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence’s protagonist from the original Hunger Games series. “She’s a musician, she’s a performer, she’s a charmer,” says Lawrence. “Snow has never met a girl like this before.”
Nina Jacobson also says the new film is “completely different [to the previous Hunger Games movie] stylistically, in terms of design, character and point of view” and promises that, as well as revisiting familiar locations such as District 12 and the Capitol, fans can look forward to “a brand new arena.”
Here is the premise for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes:
Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-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.
Directed by Francis Lawrence from a script written by Michael Lesslie, Michael Arndt, and author Suzanne Collins, the upcoming film stars Tom Blythe as Coriolanus Snow, Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Jerome Lance as Marcus, Ashley Liao as Clemensia Dovecote, Knox Gibson as Bobbin, Mackenzie Lansing as Coral, and Aamer Husain as Felix Ravinstill, Josh Andrés Rivera as Sejanus Plinth, and Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, and Viola Davis as Volumnia Gaul.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will hit theaters on November 17, 2023. Stay tuned to Heroic Hollywood for more updates on the upcoming prequel starring Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth. You can also subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
Source: Vanity Fair
