The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes trailer released

If you haven’t had enough of children murdering each other in a dystopian society, Lionsgate dropped the first trailer for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes at CinemaCon. Thankfully, they also released it online for everyone at home. Decent of them. The upcoming prequel flashes back decades before the original movies and stars Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, the future ruler of Panem who isn’t quite as sadistic this early in his life.

In addition to Tom Blyth, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes also stars Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, and Josh Andrés Rivera as Sejanus Plinth. Francis Lawrence, who previously directed Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part One, and Mockingjay Part Two, returned to helm the prequel.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes trailer certainly looks impressive as it brings us back to the world of the Capitol in a big way. The games themselves start to take on more theatricality, as Casca Highbottom (Dinklage) tells Snow (Blyth) that it’s his job to “turn these children into spectacles, not survivors.” As we already know what sort of person Coriolanus Snow will become, I will be curious to see how the prequel movie treats his younger self.

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 17, 2023.