Lionsgate has announced several additions to its cast for the upcoming prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Joining Tom Blyth (Billy The Kid) and Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) in the film are Josh Andrés Rivera (West Side Story), Jerome Lance in his feature debut, Ashley Liao (Physical), Knox Gibson (Forgive Us Our Trespasses), Aamer Husain (Hudson & Rex) and Mackenzie Lansing (Mare of Easttown).
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.
Rivera will portray Sejanus Plinth, “a close friend of young Coriolanus Snow, and the mentor to a tribute from District 2” while Lance will be Marcus, the District 2 tribute Sejanus has to mentor.
Laio will play Clemensia Dovecote, another of Coriolanus’s closest friends and the mentor to District 8’s female tribute while Husain is Felix Ravinstill, the mentor to District 11’s male tribute.
Gibson is Bobbin, a tribute from District 8 and Mackenzie Lansing is Coral, a tribute from District 4.
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 arrives in cinemas on November 17th, 2023.
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