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Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Is Already Beating Hunger Games In 1 Way
The upcoming prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is already set to surpass The Hunger Games in one important area. The massive success of the Hunger Games movie franchise means an adaptation of Suzanne Collins' book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was always an inevitability. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will star Tom Blyth as young Coriolanus Snow, the future president of Panem, and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, a young tribute that Snow is tasked with mentoring.
As a prequel, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set sixty years before its predecessors in the Hunger Games timeline. Primarily concerning the relationship between Snow and Lucy and the 10th Hunger Games, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to tell a decidedly different story to that of The Hunger Games and its sequels. However, it's setting - the dystopian Panem just a single decade after being torn by war - should provide ample opportunity for grittiness and the same bleak fantasy that made The Hunger Games so successful.
Though its status as a prequel may doom it to exist in The Hunger Games' shadow, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is already outdoing its predecessor in one fundamental way. The Hunger Games prequel's story will inherently explore the history and backstory of Panem and the Hunger Games, and therefore, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will undoubtedly surpass its predecessor concerning worldbuilding. The fact that it is a prequel implies that it will offer greater context for not just the world it's set in but also the events of the Hunger Games movies, which can only further enrich both stories.
Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Can Make Panem (& The Hunger Games) Better
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' director, Francis Lawrence, has teased that the prequel will include callbacks that explain the origins of elements of The Hunger Games' story. The promise of consistency between the prequel and the original movies is key: it means that the former will feed into the latter, retroactively making the Hunger Games movies even better. In doing so, the prequel will set up The Hunger Games' story and offer greater context for minor elements of its story. By offering a deeper understanding of things like The Hunger Games' songs and society, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will make the world of Panem feel much more real, establishing exactly what the foundations of the franchise look like.
Worldbuilding is key in any fantasy franchise, but the fact that The Hunger Games is doing so retroactively with its prequel is especially exciting. The franchise's success has already made The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes a highly-anticipated release, and Lawrence's promises that it will further explore Panem's history proves why a prequel is a perfect choice. Though Songbirds and Snakes may make some book changes, it is already set to improve upon The Hunger Games by adding a greater depth to the franchise's story, and that's already one of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' greatest assets.
