Hunger Games prequel: Peter Dinklage joins the cast of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

According to Deadline, Peter Dinklage has joined the cast of the upcoming Hunger Games prequel movie, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

Peter Dinklage will play Casca Highbottom, the dean of the Academy and the man who unintentionally created the Hunger Games. He will star in the Hunger Games prequel alongside Tom Blyth, who plays Coriolanus Snow, and Rachel Zegler, who plays Lucy Gray Baird. Francis Lawrence, who previously directed Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part One, and Mockingjay Part Two, has returned to helm the prequel. “Dean Highbottom is one of the most powerful people in Snow’s life,” Lawrence said. “As the austere and vindictive face of the games, he sets the rules that will determine every aspect of Coriolanus’ fate. I’m thrilled that Peter will be bringing him to life.” Michael Lesslie (Macbeth) has penned the most recent draft of the screenplay, building on work already done by Suzanne Collins and Michael Arndt. Production on The Hunger Games prequel is now underway, and franchise producer Nina Jacobson is thrilled that Peter Dinklage has joined the cast.

I cannot think of an actor more perfectly suited to inhabit the role of Highbottom. As the man credited with conceiving the Hunger Games and the Dean of the Academy,  Casca Highbottom is a character with secrets. Peter’s magnetism, intensity and dark humor will infuse him with the intelligence, depth and pathos that the role demands.

“Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Blyth) is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol,” reads the official synopsis for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. “With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (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’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 will be released in theaters on November 17, 2023.