The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Producer Nina Jacobson Talks Casting

We spoke with Nina Jacobson about casting younger versions of characters from The Hunger Games.

By Jamie Jirak

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is heading to theaters this month, and the prequel is set 64 years before the first film, which means some characters are returning as younger versions while others are new characters who are related to characters fans know and love. The film is also set to see the return of some behind-the-scenes staples. The movie is being helmed by Francis Lawrence, who also directed Catching Fire, Mockingjay – Part 1, and Mockingjay – Part 2. Nina Jacobson, who has served as a producer on every film in the franchise, is also returning. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with Jacobson, and she opened up about the film's casting. 

"Well, of course, any time that you're casting somebody, like you say, who's related or a younger version, obviously you're going to lop off a whole bunch of people who could be great, but who just don't look like they would ever grow up to be that person," Jacobson explained. "So you have the demands of, 'Can I believe that this young man becomes that older man?' And then also on the Lucy Gray [Rachel Zegler] front, even though she's not related to anybody, she has to be able to sing to inhabit that performer's personality, but also to kind of convey both the sort of savviness and street smarts of this character."

"And to have those questions of like, 'Is she Songbird or is she Snake?' Because she's always singing, but she's also always got a snake, or not always, but a good amount of the time," Jacobson continued. "So, just a reminder that none of these characters are meant to be all one or the other. And so, you have to get actors who can bring that level of complexity and nuance. It's much easier to just play a straight-up good guy, straight-up bad guy, but to have to kind of live in the middle and the pull and the push, and we wanted audiences to also wonder, is it real or not real?"

Who Stars In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes stars Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Viola Davis as Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, and Josh Andrés Rivera as Sejanus Plinth.  

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The movie will also include Fionnula Flanagan as Grandma'am, young Coriolanus Snow's grandmother. Isobel Jesper Jones is playing Mayfair Lipp, the daughter of the mayor of District 12. Honor Gillies will be making her professional acting debut as Barb Azure. Eike Onyambu has been cast as Tam Amber, Konstantin Taffet will be playing Clerk Carmine, Burn Gorman is Commander Hoff, Scott Folan is Beanpole, Carl Spencer is Smiley, and Michael Greco and Daniela Grubert have been cast as Strabo Plinth and Mrs. Plinth, the wealthy parents to Sejanus Plinth, Coriolanus's best friend. Nick Benson, Laurel Marsden, Lilly Cooper, Luna Steeples, and Hiroki Berrecboth are also a part of the cast. 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to open in theaters on November 17th.

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