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Things to know before watching ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’

Fans were delighted when Collins published “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes", a prequel book that stands apart from the original trilogy, in May 2020. Three years later, the most recent film in the series will now be released on November 17th

Tom Blynth and Rachel Zeglar
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The long-awaited prequel to The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is expected to hit the theaters this November! The prequel has been eagerly anticipated by devoted Hunger Games fans who were enthralled by Katniss Everdeen, the main character, and her adventure in The Hunger Games. The story of Panem didn't end there, despite the fact that the first four films, based on Suzanne Collins' magnificent novels, kept us on the edge of our seats in the early 2010s. Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, or even their parents will unlikely be mentioned in the prequel because it sets up the events in the first three Hunger Games volumes. A stunning 64 years before the events in The Hunger Games and 65 years before those in Catching Fire, the plot centers on the 10th annual Hunger Games. Favorite characters like Gale Hawthorne, Haymitch Abernathy, and Effie Trinket are also likely to be absent from the story.
One important plotline may be distilled down to constitute the core of the prequel: it explores President Snow's past.


We are given information about his past, before he becomes the terrible, autocratic president who would eventually have to deal with a rebellion from his own people. The most engaging elements of this story is the potential to see Snow in his youth, to comprehend who he was, his aims, dreams, and ambitions, and to experience his existence in its purest form.
For viewers who are unaware that Tigris and Coriolanus are related as cousins, returning to the series in her earlier years may provide a welcome surprise. The two of them lived with their grandmother after The First Rebellion claimed their parents, as they worked to move up the Capitol's social scale.
When the 10th Hunger Games take place and Lucy Grey Baird's story is told, the winners' circle for District 12 will be complete.
The intimacy between Coriolanus and Lucy is palpable throughout the trailer for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, from his gesture of giving her a white rose to the moment they enter the arena hand in hand.


Do not hope for a happy ending. The most frightening part of this dystopian story is how this way of life endures for another 65 years only to be resolved through unfathomable loss and carnage in the end. While working together to produce the 10th Hunger Games might seem unthinkable in real life, it is the most unsettling component of this dystopian story.