Lionsgate is not done casting The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the prequel to The Hunger Games franchise.
Deadline reports that the film has cast several more actors as the Hunger Games’ mentors and tributes with Nick Benson (Big Shot), Laurel Marsden (Ms. Marvel), Lilly Cooper (The Witcher), Luna Steeples (Overdue) and Hiroki Berrecloth (Red Rose) set to star alongside Tom Blythe and Rachel Zelger in the prequel.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes sees the Capitol celebrating the 10th annual Hunger Games as Blyth’s Coriolanus Snow tries to rescue his family from poverty after the war. He is assigned as a mentor to a young girl from District 12 for the Games, a chance that could bolster his and his family’s name back into the Capitol’s graces while cementing his future as Panem’s tyrannical President.
Benson will play “Jessup, the tribute from District 12 alongside Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird.”
Marsden will portray Mayfair Lipp, a young District 12 girl who “places Baird’s name into contention for the tenth Hunger Games.”
Cooper is “Arachne Crane, mentor to a tribute from District 10.”
Steeples will play “Dill, tribute from District 11” and Berrecloth will play “Treech, tribute from District 7.”
Franchise director Francis Lawrence is returning to helm the prequel which comes from Suzanne Collins’ novel, adapted by Michael Lesslie from Collins and Michael Arndt’s previous draft.
Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) 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 (Rachel Zegler), 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 Gray’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes stars Tom Blyth (Billy The Kid), Rachel Zegler (West Side Story), Josh Andrés Rivera (West Side Story), Ashley Liao (Physical), Knox Gibson (Forgive Us Our Trespasses), Aamer Husain (Hudson & Rex), Mackenzie Lansing (Mare of Easttown), Nick Benson (Big Shot), Laurel Marsden (Ms. Marvel), Lilly Cooper (The Witcher), Luna Steeples (Overdue), Hiroki Berrecloth (Red Rose) and newcomer Jerome Lance.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes arrives in cinemas on November 17th, 2023.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
Originally published June 22, 2022. Updated July 19, 2022.
