The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is finally out, and it actually features a detail that connects to a major The Hunger Games: Catching Fire book plot that the movie cut. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a The Hunger Games prequel, meaning that there aren’t many continuous storylines that play into the original films. However, there is one big exception, with the film doing justice to a cut The Hunger Games: Catching Fire storyline.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a 2023 prequel movie based on the book of the same name, with it exploring the world of The Hunger Gamesdecades before the life of Katniss Everdeen. Instead, the film follows a future President Snow as he is tasked with mentoring District 12’s Lucy Gray Baird, with the film giving a new perspective on the franchise’s villain. Interesting, Lucy Gray has a connection to the second mainline book, one that wasn’t present in the movies.
Katniss Visits Lucy Gray’s Lake Shack In The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes In Catching Fire’s Book
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes features an important shack, but this building also plays a role in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire‘s book. In the prequel movie, Lucy Gray and Snow meet in a shack filled with guns before Lucy Gray leaves Snow. Although the shack’s history seemingly has no significance, it actually was visited by Katniss decades later.
Although it wasn’t featured in the movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire features a moment in which Katniss visits this very same shack. She sees the building while visiting a lake, with it being described in exactly the same way as Lucy Gray’s shack. Although making this the same cabin was probably a retcon in the prequel, it is still a cool detail.
1 Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Line Explains Why Snow Became Hunger Games’ Villain
There is one key line in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes that foreshadows Snow’s descent into The Hunger Games’ biggest and most sinister villain.
Why Hunger Games: Catching Fire Cut Katniss’ Lake Shack Storyline
All The Hunger Games movies make book changes, and Katniss’ lake shack storyline was sadly one of the moments that was cut when adapting the story to film. It hasn’t been revealed why this moment was cut from the film, but there are a few theories. It’s possible that it was simply cut for time, as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is already a long movie without it.
It could also be that the writers of the movie adaptation saw no point in featuring the scene. While at the lake, Katniss ponders running away from District 12 again, something that has happened several other times. It could be that the film’s creators thought that this beat had already been covered, cutting it from the film. However, it does take away from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
- Director
- Francis Lawrence
- Release Date
- November 17, 2023
- Writers
- Michael Arndt , Michael Lesslie
- Cast
- Rachel Zegler , Josh Andrés Rivera , Hunter Schafer , Jason Schwartzman , Peter Dinklage , Viola Davis , Tom Blyth
