President Snow’s Origin Story Will Change How You See Hunger Games Movies, Prequel Producer Explains

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will change viewers’ perspectives on the original movies, reveals a producer. The new movie stars Tom Blyth as a young Coriolanus Snow, the man who will grow up to become the ruthless President of the dystopian nation of Panem. As played by Donald Sutherland in the original four movies, President Snow is the primary antagonist for young Hunger Games tribute Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), who finds herself more or less accidentally becoming the figurehead of a rebellion against him and his bloodthirsty regime.

Total Film has published an interview with producer Nina Jacobson just a few days ahead of the The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes release date. During the interview, Jacobson reflected on how the movie will affect perceptions of Snow’s character, saying that his future confrontation with Katniss sees him “realizing the connection back to his own youth.” Read Jacobson’s full quote below:

It has, for me, changed the way that I look at President Snow stepping foot in District 12, going to see this uppity, troublemaking girl who’s disrupted things, who’s named Katniss, and realizing the connection back to his own youth. I think it will absolutely change [things], and it’s part of why we use that line from the original series: “It’s the things we love most, that destroy us.” It is a very fine line that you’re sewing with a very fine thread. You are still being shaped and you are still becoming the person you will be. The people around you have enormous sway and influence in who you become, and he is being pulled in these opposing directions. It’s not a given that he will embrace his darker side, but nobody has any illusions that he has that darker side.

How The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Reflects President Snow’s Relationship To Katniss

As Jacobson says, though the new movie takes place many decades before the events of The Hunger Games, it will lay down threads that explain much of President Snow’s future behavior. Throughout the original movies, Snow controls Panem with an iron fist, even threatening the lives of any members of the privileged Capitol who defy him. However, Katniss’ defiance and refusal to be forced to follow the rules of the Hunger Games cause her to become a primary threat in his eyes.

One of the reasons Katniss especially finds herself in Snow’s crosshairs is because she reminds him of his relationship at the center of the events of the Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes book, upon which the movie is based. The movie follows him becoming a mentor to and forming a unique relationship with District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a charismatic young musician. As they grow closer, his commitment to the Hunger Games is challenged when he fears her life may be lost in the arena.

Although Baird’s skillset and overall persona don’t overlap entirely with Katniss’, who is a more reactive survivalist at the beginning of her journey, there are many parallels between the two characters. This includes the fact that both hail from District 12, as well as the unique ways in which they rebel against the rules of the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will use those connections to provide audiences with a much deeper understanding of Snow’s motivations, despite his brutal future actions.