As hype builds for the upcoming The Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, it’s tough to forget where it all started. And while many Hunger Games fans may have grown out of that phase, the original films’ star, Jennifer Lawrence, is just feeling downright old.
Jennifer Lawrence of course played tribute Katniss Everdeen in all four The Hunger Games films: 2012’s first, 2013’s Catching Fire, and the 2014-2015 double header Mockingjay. In a recent profile by The New York Times, Lawrence said, “That makes me feel old as mold…I remember being 21 and thinking, ‘My God, one day they’ll redo and remake them. But I’ll be so old by then! I’ll be dead!’”
As The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes depicts the upcoming 10th Hunger Games and the first Hunger Games saw the arrival of the 74th, Katniss will obviously not even be mentioned.
In the interview, Jennifer Lawrence hints at something far bigger. How soon is too soon for nostalgia? There has been a major wave of reboots and revivals as of late, but they have at least given their inspirations time to settle: the upcoming Frasier continuation was announced more than 15 years after the hit sitcom bowed, Quantum Leap comes nearly two decades after the original ended and Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock premiered a full quarter-century after the first went off the air. But the original Hunger Games series only concluded seven years ago. Are people really that hungry for the hunger?
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ official plot: “Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow, 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, 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.”
The cast of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes includes Tom Blyth as Snow (portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the first four films), Rachel Zegler, Jason Schwartzman, and Peter Dinklage. It will hit theaters on November 17th, 2023.
