The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes cast: who stars in prequel with Viola Davis

Filming for Hunger Games prequel movie The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes took place last year, with an all-star cast featuring in the big budget film. The film is set decades before the Hunger Games trilogy, which starred Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, and Woody Harrelson.

The original Hunger Games trilogy is based on the young adult book series by Suzanne Collins and followed young hero Katniss Everdeen who grows up in a dystopian society where young people from different global districts are involved in a lottery to participate in an annual fight to the death against each other.

Collins wrote the prequel novel in 2020 and it was quickly picked up for a film adaptation - Oscar Award-winning actress Viola Davis has been announced to appear in the highly-anticipated film The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Here’s everything we know about the film so far.

What will The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes be about?

The new film will be based on the 2020 prequel novel by Suzanne Collins and bring fans back to the world of Panem.

Set 64 years before the first Hunger Games story featuring Katniss Everdeen, the story follows the rise of Coriolanus Snow, who would later go on to lead the fictional country of Panem.

The novel on which the film will be based on opens on the 10th annual Hunger Games, amid the rebuilding of Panem following a rebellion which began the Hunger Games process.

Who has been cast in The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes?

Tom Blyth

Tom Blyth has been cast to play 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow.

The character is expected to be at the centre of the film, with it charting his journey through the 10th Hunger Games as a Capitol resident and a mentor to a District 12 tribute.

Blyth is an English actor who has screen credits in The Guilded Age and Billy The Kid. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbrds and Snakes will be Blyth’s first lead role in a film and could catapult him to stardom, just as his Hunger Games alumni Jennifer Lawrence experienced in 2012.

Rachel Zegler

Rachel Zegler will star in the film as new character Lucy Gray Baird, the District 12 tribute whom Coriolanus Snow mentors.

Lucy and Coriolanus’s mentorship is key to the plot of the story, with Zegler and Blyth expected to share a fair amount of time on screen together

Zegler made her big screen debut as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 re-telling of West Side Story, and her star has been on the rise ever since.

Hunter Schafer

Hunter Schafer has been cast as Tigris Snow.

The character is the cousin and confidante of Coriolanus Snow and someone which the future president turns to regularly for advice and support.

Schafer rose to fame on HBO’s hit drama Euphoria, in which she portrays Jules Vaughn alongside Emmy Award-winning castmate Zendaya.

Peter Dinklage

Game of Thrones alumni Peter Dinklage has also joined the cast of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Dinklage will portray Casca Highbottom in the film.

The character is key to the Hunger Games universe as the co-creator of the games, as well as the dean on the Academy - an elite school for children of the Capitol, including Coriolanus Snow.

Viola Davis

Oscar Award-winning actress Viola Davis has joined the cast and will be playing the role of Dr. Volumnia Gaul.

The character is the head gamemaker of the 10th Hunger Games and the main villian of the film.

Speaking about her taking up the role, producer Nina Jacobson said that Davis was the “dream” casting for the role, adding: “We are incredibly fortunate to have an actor with Viola’s extraordinary range and presence to play this pivotal role.”

Jason Schwartzman

Jason Schwartzman may be more familiar to audience as taking up quirky roles in Wes Anderson’s filmography, but in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Singbirds and Snakes, he’ll be taking up the role of Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman.

If the name sounds familiar, you’re not wrong. Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman is an ancestor of Stanley Tucci’s ioncic Caeser Flickerman, the enigmatic and charismatic Capitol television host.

Hosting runs in the family obviously, with Lucky also hosting the Capitol coverage of the 10th Hunger Games in the prequel film.

When will The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes be released?

The film is currently set to be released on 17 November 2023. Filming began in June 2022.