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The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes – Thematic Callbacks To The Original

The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes has plenty of thematic callbacks to the original films, some planned and some were not.

When you're making a prequel, it seems pretty apparent that there will be callbacks to the original series. How obvious and whether or not they will work is one of the aspects of a prequel that will make it work or make it stumble. If the references and callbacks are so much that it becomes obnoxious, or it seems like the film doesn't have an identity of its own outside of references, that's where the issues come in. It sounds like The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes is carefully trying to walk that line. The creative team knows that they are asking a lot of fans to even come to a movie that has virtually nothing to do with the previous film, with producer Nina Jacobson saying to Entertainment Weekly, "Katniss is so hugely identified with the franchise, so a story that doesn't have her in it is always going to be a big step for an audience." They are getting around that by building a story that mirrors the one we saw Katniss and Peeta go through in the first film, but this time, we know that things aren't going to end well. Director Francis Lawrence said that the line "It's the things we love most that destroy us" spoken by Donald Sutherland that perfectly captures not only the journey that Katniss and Peeta went on but also the story that Coriolanus and Lucy Gray will be going on as well. It wasn't even something that was initially in the movie.

"I remember being blown away by it and how it perfectly fit the themes and mysteries of the movie that we were making," Lawrence says of the line, which was added to the BOSS trailer by the Lionsgate marketing team. In fact, he was so impressed by its relevance that he added it to the final cut of the film as well.

For Coriolanus and Lucy Gray, their relationship as mentor and tribute is different from the ones we've seen before. There is a pull of power between the two of them, but there is also the fact that they both absolutely need each other if the other will survive. As the article details for those unfamiliar with the book, Coriolanus and his family aren't doing well, and winning The Hunger Games with Lucy Gray is the only way to save his family from financial ruin. Lawrence explains that while Katniss and Peeta bonded through shared trauma, Coriolanus and Lucy Gray are bonded through mutual need.

"[Katniss'] draw to Peeta is this shared trauma," the director observes. "You go through an experience together and feel more understood by that person than anybody else. It's the same here." With Coriolanus and Lucy Gray, "there's this mutual need," he adds. "He needs her to win and survive, so he wins. She needs him to help her win and survive, so she survives. … There's manipulation on both sides."

The Entertainment Weekly article cites other ways that The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes will make callbacks to the original films; some will be more obvious than others, and some weren't even intentional. Lucy Gray mockingly bows to the crowd in one of the trailers, much like we saw Katniss do the same thing in the first film. According to Lawrence and Jacobson, that was not in the book or the script but something that Rachel Zegler and the team came up with that became part of the world's lore. We also learn that the song from Mockingjay Part 1, The Hanging Tree, was written by Lucy Gray after witnessing an execution, thus indirectly tying her character to essential moments from the previous films. As we said, too many callbacks and leaning too heavily on the source material won't make for a good prequel. However, it's hard to pull in established fans without said references. The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes already has to draw in people for the origin of a villain, which not everyone is on board with, but figuring out a way to try and keep the audience and fans happy will be hard to pull off.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes – Summary, Cast List, Release Date

Experience the story of The Hunger Games — 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes follows a young Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) 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 (Rachel Zegler), 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 & Snakes is directed by Francis Lawrence and stars Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera, Jason Schwartzman, and Viola Davis. It is based on a novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins and a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt. It will be released on November 17th.

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