Years before becoming the tyrannical president of Panem, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for the good name of his fading house: a proud family fallen on hard times in the postwar Capitol. As the tenth annual Hunger Games approaches, young Snow fears for his reputation as he is appointed mentor to Lucy Gray Baird, the tribute girl from miserable District 12. But when Lucy Gray magnetizes the entire nation of Panem by singing challenge at the harvest ceremony, Snow realizes it could turn the tide in his favor. Combining their instincts for entertainment and political cunning, Snow and Lucy will aim for survival in a race against time to decide who is the nightingale and who is the snake.
Set 64 years before the Hunger Games Saga, this prequel is inspired by a novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins and directed, after the far from exciting Red Sparrow and Slumberland, we find Francis Lawrence, who had directed three out of four of the original Hunger Games . The protagonists are the Englishman Tom Blyth, an actor yet to be cast, Rachel Zegler of West Side Story and Hunter Schafer of the series Euphoria. Also participating in supporting roles: Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage and Jason Schwartzman.