The Hunger Games prequel gets a first dark trailer

Return to the world of Panem with the first trailer for the Hunger Games prequel, The ballad of songbids and snakes.

Based on Suzanne Collins’ novel of the same name, the film focuses on a younger version of President Snow, the dictator of Panem. But it’s not just a villain origin story – The ballad of songbirds and snakes is more about the formation of the Games into the grand spectacle that Katniss was forced to participate in. The book delves into how propaganda and spin turned the Games from something the Capitol citizens weren’t quite cool with into their favorite event of the year.

Tom Blyth (The Gilded Age) stars as the young President Snow, with West Side Story‘s Rachel Zelger as Lucy Gray Baird, the District 12 homage he becomes obsessed with. Euphoria‘s Hunter Schafer plays Snow’s cousin Tigris and Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage plays another pair of Capitol citizens who are instrumental in the making of the Hunger Games.

The book came out in 2020, but even before its official release, there was a movie deal.

The ballad of songbirds and snakes arrives in theaters on November 17.