Nick Benson, Laurel Marsden join Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes 

The cast of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes made by Lionsgate is increasing each week.  The five new actors to join the prequel 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. Marsden will play Mayfair Lipp, who is the person who places Lucy Gray’s name into contention for the tenth Hunger Games. 

The announcement comes a week after the first slate of actors was revealed. They were 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.