A week following the announcement of the first round of tributes and mentors that will be appearing in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Lionsgate has announced another collection of starts that will be starring in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel film. The five new actors that have joined the cast are Nick Benson, Laurel Marsden, Lilly Cooper, Luna Steeples, and Hiroki Berrecloth. This group will star opposite Tom Blyth as a younger version of Coriolanus Snow and Rachel Zegler who plays Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from the impoverished District 12.
Benson will play Jessup, a fellow tribute from District 12 alongside Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird. Benson appeared in Netflix’s Boo, Bitch and Disney+’s Big Shot since his graduation. Marsden will play Mayfair Lipp, who is the person who places Lucy Gray’s name into contention for the tenth Hunger Games. Marsden plays a starring role in the recently released Disney+ series, Ms. Marvel as Zoe Zimmer. She has previously starred alongside Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins in Quibi’s Survive and also recently completed production on All Fun and Games opposite Asa Butterfield and Natalia Dyer.
Cooper will play Arachne Crane, mentor to a tribute from District 10. Credits include the role of Murta in The Witcher season 1 and 2. Steeples will play Dill, a tribute from District 11. Steeples currently only has one credit to her name, which was in 2017 in the series Overdue. Berrecloth will play Treech, tribute from District 7. His previous credits include BBC’s Red Rose and the short films Black Lichen, The Intruder, and Why Do You Look at Me with Those Eyes?.
This announcement comes a week after the reveal of the first slate of actors that would be taking the roles of mentors and tributes in the upcoming prequel. These cast members include Jerome Lance as Marcus, Ashley Liao as Clemensia Dovecote, Knox Gibson as Bobbin, Mackenzie Lansing as Coral, and Aamer Husain as Felix Ravinstill. The upcoming prequel film takes place years before the original story and follows an 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow before he became the tyrannical ruler of Panem.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be directed by Francis Lawrence, who previously directed the franchise’s Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part One, and Mockingjay Part Two. The latest draft of the screenplay is written by Michael Lesslie, building off the work of The Hunger Games original author Suzanne Collins and Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt, who penned a previous draft of the film. Franchise producer Nina Jacobson returns for the film alongside her producing partner Brad Simpson, with Lawrence also serving as a producer. Collins, Tim Palen, and Jim Miller will serve as executive producers with Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien overseeing on behalf of Lionsgate.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes premieres in theaters worldwide on November 17, 2023. You can read the official description for the upcoming prequel to the blockbuster franchise down below:
Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Blyth) is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.