The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has recently become a viral movie, set to come out in theaters on November 17, 2023. This movie is a prequel story to the well-known trilogy, The Hunger Games. This book takes place 64 years before the events in the original trilogy. The book focuses on Coriolanus Snow before he became the president, which surprised many of the trilogy’s fans.
Coriolanus Snow is the infamous villain of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. The book starts when Snow is 18 years old and begins just before the 10th Annual Hunger Games tributes are to be reaped. The Capitol has not yet reached its peak of glory and is still in shambles from the war. Snow’s family is bankrupt and desperate to hide it. At the start of this book, we are introduced to Tigris, his cousin, and “The Grandma’am,” his grandmother. Snow lives with his family in the penthouse of their apartment, which helps them hide their poverty.
Goodreads is a popular app or website that readers use to rate and review books, and this book has made quite the appearance. In total, 66% of reviewers gave the book four or five stars. On the contrary, only 7% gave it one to two stars. Ever since the movie was announced, the original trilogy has surged in popularity in anticipation for the film.
Unfortunately, there is not much information about the movie yet other than the few trailers and the release date. However, we do know who the actors for each character will be. Tom Blyth is set to be Coriolanus Snow, with Rachel Zegler as his Lucy Gray Baird. We also know that Sejanus Plinth will be played by Josh Andrés Rivera, and Hunter Shafer will be playing Tigris. As for the adults in the story, we know Jason Schwartzman will play Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman and Viola Davis as infamous Professor Gaul. As for tributes and mentors, here is what has been gathered from our source, Entertainment Weekly, “There will also be a new crop of tributes and mentors, including Jerome Lance as Marcus, a tribute from District 2; Ashley Liao as Clemensia Dovecote, one of Coriolanus’ closest friends and mentor to a tribute from District 11; Knox Gibson as Bobbin, a tribute from District 8; Mackenzie Lansing as Coral, a tribute from District 4; and Aamer Husain as Felix Ravinstill, a mentor to a tribute from District 11.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was an excellent addition to the Hunger Games trilogy, and it provided a good backstory to President Snow and showed just how complex his character is. Hopefully, the movie will do the book justice and be as good as the written story.
