Five new stars: Jerome Lance, Ashley Liao, Knox Gibson, Mackenzie Lansing, and Aamer Husain have joined The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. They will be portraying newly introduced tributes and their mentors. Lance, Gibson, and Husain are newcomers, while Liao has appeared in the films Always Be My Maybe and Secret Society of Second Born Royals, and Lansing in the shows The Deuce and Mare of Easttown.
The newly announced cast members join the already announced Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler. Blyth will portray a younger version of Coriolanus Snow while Ziegler will portray Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from the impoverished District 12.
The upcoming prequel film will be directed by Francis Lawrence, who helmed all the previous films in the Hunger Games franchise apart from the first. Writer duo Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt penned the screenplay for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes film, which is adapted from the book of the same name by Susanne Collins, who penned all the Hunger Games novels.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is being produced by Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, as well as director Lawrence. Jacobson has produced all the Hunger Games movies. Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien are overseeing production on behalf of Lionsgate.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will hit theatres worldwide on November 17, 2023. Stay tuned at Collider for more details.