Welcome back to the Hunger Games.
EW has an exclusive inside look at the new trailer (above), which features a familiar ballad.
Below, franchise directorFrancis Lawrence who also helmedCatching Fireand bothMockingjaymovies breaks it all down.
Tom Blyth in ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’.Lionsgate
Are you, are you comin' to the tree?
(It’s later broadcast to the districts to rally allies.)
The prequel reveals that the song originates from none other than Lucy Gray.
Tom Blyth in ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’.Lionsgate
Music, of course, plays a more prominent role in the prequel given the songbird’s Covey background.
“She’s a performer,” Lawrence says.
So this is a song that’s been passed down through generations of people in District 12."
Viola Davis and a tub of colorful snakes in ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’.Lionsgate
(Get ready to meet Maude Ivory, too.)
“You look like you shouldn’t be here,” she tells him.
(He shouldn’t.
“A rebel,” indeed.)
In the prequel book, the roses aren’t as sinister.
He recalls her always smelling of roses thanks to a rose makeup compact she often used.
His grandmother, too, has a rose garden on the terrace of their home.
The simple gesture felt like a natural inclusion.
“It’s part of the fun of being able to tell a story like this.
We get to dive into the origins of elements we’re familiar with.”
Well, the prequel is much more epic in scope.
He’s forced to enroll in Peacekeeper duties, and he finds himself in none other than District 12.
Both Davis and Dinklage were Lawrence’s first choices for their respective roles.
“Some of Peter’s scenes are some of my favorites in the movie,” he says.
“I wanted to work with him for so long.
He came in and blew everybody away.”
(Remember those monkey and lizard mutations in the original films?)
“She finds strange joy and creativity in her job as a gamemaker.
Lawrence concedes the inclusion was a happy accident.
Thank the Lionsgate marketing team, who first tossed it into the teaser trailer, for that.
Ready to return to the arena?The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakesarrives in theaters Nov. 17.
Watch the full trailer above.
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