‘Hunger Games’ prequel casts Tom Blyth as young Snow

MANILA, Philippines – Tom Blyth, most popularly known for Billy The Kid and The Gilded Age, has been cast as the young version of Coriolanus Snow in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the highly-anticipated Hunger Games prequel. 

In the Hunger Games trilogy, Snow, portrayed by Donald Sutherland, is known as the tyrannical President of Panem who constantly endangers Katniss Everdeen. In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes though, viewers will see an 18-year-old Snow attempt to save his family’s fading lineage by being a mentor in the Hunger Games. 

In the 10th annual Hunger Games, the young Snow is alarmed when he is chosen to be a mentor to Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. 

Other cast members have yet to be announced, but Francis Lawrence, also the original franchise director, is all praises for Blyth’s casting. “Coriolanus Snow is many things — a survivor, a loyal friend, a cutthroat, a kid quick to fall in love, and a young man ambitious to his core. Tom’s take on the character showed us all the complex ambiguities of this young man as he transforms into the tyrant he would become,” he said, as quoted by Variety. 

The prequel will be written by Catching Fire’s Michael Arndt and Hunger Games creator Suzanne Collins, and produced by Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, and Lawrence.

The successful Hunger Games franchise of four films is based on Collins’ best-selling trilogy that includes the young adult dystopian novels, The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010). 

The films have collectively grossed over $3 billion globally so far, and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, and Donald Sutherland. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to premiere on November 17, 2023. – Rappler.com