Are villains born or made? When author Suzanne Collins published The Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in 2020, she reintroduced audiences to the wicked President Coriolanus Snow as a young man. This version of Snow is motivated by love for his family and desperate to find his place in Panem, long before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute for the 74th annual Hunger Games. The novel’s 2023 film adaptation, directed by franchise mainstay Francis Lawrence (Constantine, The Long Walk), features Tom Blyth as Snow and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, who Snow is charged with guiding through the 10th Games. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is now available to watch on Netflix. It’s streaming alongside the four original Hunger Games films, starring Jennifer Lawrence as reluctant revolutionary Katniss. Based on Collins’s bestselling trilogy — The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay — the dystopian action flicks also star Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, and Donald Sutherland as the OG President Snow.
For those who’ve never heard Banks’s Effie Trinket exclaim about “mahogany,” it goes like this: The post-apocalyptic nation of Panem is divided into 12 distinct districts overseen by the ruthless Capitol. As punishment for a failed rebellion, the Capitol hosts the yearly Hunger Games, in which one boy and one girl from each district are chosen to compete in a televised gladiator match, fighting to the death. Only one of the 24 “tributes” is crowned the victor and walks out alive.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favor. Nock an arrow, find your allies, and read on to learn more.
Before he was the megalomaniacal tyrant who ruled Panem with an iron fist, Coriolanus Snow was a student living in the war-ravaged remains of the Capitol. This prequel stars Tom Blyth (People We Meet on Vacation) as 18-year-old Snow, who’s assigned as a mentor for the 10th annual Hunger Games. If his tribute performs well, he will restore his family name and make a better life for his cherished grandmother (Fionnula Flanagan) and favorite cousin, Tigris (Hunter Schafer). But public interest in the Games has waned, and twisted Head Gamemaker Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) is looking for a true spectacle. At first, Snow is aggravated when he’s assigned to coach the female tribute for the impoverished District 12, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). He changes his tune when charismatic Lucy showcases her theatrical flair. She might not be the strongest of the bunch, but if Snow can combine her talents with his systemic knowledge, maybe he can shift the odds in their favor. Peter Dinklage (I Care a Lot) and Jason Schwartzman (The Polka King) also star.
Based on Collins’s beloved 2008 novel, The Hunger Games follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence), who lives in the destitute District 12 and does what she can to care for her younger sister, Primrose (Willow Shields), and her disengaged mother, Asterid (Paula Malcomson). She provides for them by hunting with a bow and arrow in the surrounding forest with her best friend, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth). When Prim is chosen to compete in the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers in her place, and is whisked away to the Capitol with her fellow tribute, Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson). They’re accompanied by exuberant Capitol representative Effie Trinket (Banks) and their flippant, booze-soaked mentor, Haymitch Abernathy (Harrelson), the only living victor from their district. As they prepare for the Games alongside their fellow tributes, it becomes clear that they’re outmatched by the bloodthirsty contenders from the wealthier districts. To garner public support, Peeta reveals his longtime crush on Katniss. But will the story and Katniss’s skills with a bow be enough to keep them alive once they’re let loose in the arena? Lenny Kravitz (Shotgun Wedding) and Stanley Tucci (Inside Man) also star.
Katniss and Peeta are the first duo to have ever won the Hunger Games. But their defiance has angered the Capitol and inspired uprisings throughout Panem. President Snow (Sutherland) forces Katniss and Peeta to flaunt their relationship while they travel the country on their mandatory Victory Tour in an attempt to calm the public. The president and new Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) have also devised a devious revenge plan: the 75th annual Hunger Games, the third Quarter Quell, will only recruit tributes from the existing pool of victors in each district. As District 12’s only living female victor, Katniss is thrown into the Games once again. Only this time, she’s fighting proven killers. If she can form alliances with some of her fellow returning tributes — including the ultra-violent Johanna Mason (Jena Malone), the charming Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin), and tech genius Beetee Latier (Jeffrey Wright) — she might just get to go home once and for all. Alan Ritchson (War Machine) also joins the returning cast.
After destroying the Quarter Quell arena, Katniss, Finnick, and Beetee are taken to District 13, while Peeta and several other victors are captured by the Capitol. Once thought to have been wiped out in the uprising 75 years ago, District 13 is now the growing rebellion’s center of operations. Led by the seemingly even-keeled President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) and double-agent former Gamemaker Heavensbee, the group has devised a plan to lift Katniss up as the Mockingjay, a symbol of hope and unity — much to her chagrin. Katniss teams up with Gale, Haymitch, Effie, Coin’s right-hand man, Colonel Boggs (Mahershala Ali), and a team of filmmakers to create propaganda movies meant to encourage the districts to rise against their oppressors. Meanwhile, the Capitol begins airing disinformation videos featuring Peeta, who appears to have turned against his friends. Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) and Elden Henson (Daredevil) join the cast.
The second half of Mockingjay reunites Katniss with Peeta, who’s been brainwashed into believing that Katniss is the real villain and tries to kill her every chance he gets. With Panem now in all-out war, the rebellion pushes forward to the Capitol in order to unseat President Snow and install a representative democracy. Katniss and her team — including Gale, Finnick, Boggs, Cressida (Dormer), Pollux (Henson), and, to everyone’s surprise, Peeta — continue to shoot “propo” videos as they follow in the fighters’ wake. But Katniss has another mission in mind. As the group navigates the treacherous, booby-trapped streets, the Mockingjay waits for an opportunity to enact her own vicious endgame.
