Lucy Gray’s Katniss Easter Egg Explained By Hunger Games Prequel Director

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes director Francis Lawrence breaks down the Lucy Gray Katniss Easter egg featured in the movie’s trailer. Once again based on source material from The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins, the upcoming prequel movie stars Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, a District 12 tribute who participates in the 10th iteration of the titular games. There have long been theories that Lucy is related to Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss in some way, and these were only further fueled by Lucy’s mocking curtsy in the trailer, which matches Katniss’ own curtsy.

Now, ahead of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes release date, Lawrence reveals in a recent interview with ET that he actually came up with Katniss curtsy Easter egg on the fly. And the director reveals that it’s certainly not the only nod to the original series of films that he’s included in his prequel. Check out Lawrence’s full comment below:

“It was something that I made up on the day and had Rachel do, because we’re constantly looking for, in the making of this, little sort of Easter eggs that would excite the fans. I thought, wow, this is really cool. If she does this then, you know, Katniss could have heard generations later about this kind of rebellious, irreverent act of this woman that was a singer and did this sort of bow curtsy at the reaping.

“It just gives a different sort of meaning to Katniss’ action, and I think that it’s a really fun element of this movie, to get lots of those moments.”

Can Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Recapture The Hunger Games’ Magic?

Before it was adapted into a movie, Collins’ The Hunger Games book series was immensely popular. It was this built-in audience that contributed to the first movie’s success, with director Gary Ross’ first film earning positive reviews and over $677.9 million at the box office. The subsequent installments were also well received, with the story ultimately coming to an end in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 in 2015.

While the first movie in the franchise came at the perfect time, when young adult fiction movie adaptations were still very popular after the success of Harry Potter, the theatrical landscape has significantly evolved since. The 2010s saw a host of young adult fiction novels get the big-budget adaptation treatment, but this has died down considerably in recent years as audience interest has waned. This is evident in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes‘ box office projections, which predict a franchise-low box office opening weekend of $50 million.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will seemingly be attempting to balance honoring the original movies while also pushing the franchise in a new direction. Easter eggs can be a fun way to enhance the viewing experience for those who enjoyed the original movies, but leaning too far into them can sometimes come off as a cheap play to capitalize on nostalgia. Hopefully, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will find a way to pay homage to what came before while also introducing a compelling new protagonist and story.