Peter Dinklage Cast in Hunger Games Prequel Movie, the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Peter Dinklage — best known for playing Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones — has been cast as Casca Highbottom, dean of the Academy, in the upcoming prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Produced by Lionsgate, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is an adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ novel of the same name.

Back in 2014, when the four-film Hunger Games franchise wrapped up, it had earned over $3 billion (about Rs. 24,000 crore) globally. Now Lionsgate is looking to extend the lifespan with the adaptation of Collins’ latest entry in the dystopian series.

Dinklage will star in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes opposite Tom Blyth, who plays the young Coriolanus Snow, and Rachel Zegler, as tribute Lucy Gray Baird.

Josh Andrés Rivera, Hunter Schafer, and Jason Schwartzman are also part of the cast, as Snow’s close friend Sejanus Plinth, Snow’s cousin and confidante Tigris Snow, and 10th Hunger Games host Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, respectively.

Francis Lawrence, who directed three of the four Hunger Games movies, is back in the helmer’s seat with franchise producer Nina Jacobson and her partner Brad Simpson back as producers. Michael Lesslie wrote the latest draft of the screenplay.

The prequel’s logline from Lionsgate reads: “Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12.”

“But after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird and a snake,” it continues.

Dinklage most recently starred in Cyrano for director Joe Wright. His upcoming work includes Brothers opposite Josh Brolin and Brendan Fraser, and She Came to Me opposite Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei for writer-director Rebecca Miller.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to hit theatres worldwide on November 17, 2023.