Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes director on how Lucy Gray Baird is the opposite of Katniss Everdeen

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) was the face of The Hunger Games franchise, but the upcoming prequel will be introducing a whole new cast, including Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). While speaking with Empire, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes director Francis Lawrence teased just how different this new tribute is from Katniss.

“Katniss was an introvert and a survivor,” Francis Lawrence said. “She was quite quiet and stoic, you could almost say [she was] asexual. Lucy Gray is the opposite. She wears her sexuality on her sleeve, [and] she really is a performer.” Unlike Katniss, Lucy Gray “loves crowds” and “knows how to play crowds and manipulate people.“

Taking place decades before the original movies, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes stars Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, the future ruler of Panem who isn’t quite as sadistic this early in his life. The film also stars Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, and Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow. Francis Lawrence, who previously directed Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part One, and Mockingjay Part Two, returned to helm the prequel from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt based on Suzanne Collins’ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Should the prequel prove to be successful, I’d imagine that it won’t be the last we see of Panem; and hell, if Jennifer Lawrence is game to return as Katniss Everdeen, it might just happen.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes “follows a young Coriolanus who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray’s charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates. With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favor. Battling his instincts for both good and evil, Snow sets out on a race against time to survive and reveal if he will ultimately become a songbird or a snake.“

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be released in theaters on November 17th.