TV & Movies

What happens after Songbirds & Snakes – Will there be another Hunger Games movie?

Lucy-Jo Finnighan
Tom Blythe in The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesLionsgate

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes introduced us to more of Panem and The Hunger Games, but will there be more in the future?

The 10th Annual Hunger Games have finally appeared on our screens, in the new Hunger Games prequel movie, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

The prequel gives us a lot more focus on the Capitol, and follows this synopsis: “Years before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow remains the last hope for his fading lineage. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow becomes alarmed when he’s assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird from District 12. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and political savvy, they race against time to ultimately reveal who’s a songbird and who’s a snake.”

But considering there’s still a massive gap between the prequel and the original books, what happens in between? And will that lead to another Hunger Games movie? Let’s get into it but first: Spoiler warning for Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes!

What happens after Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes?

We won’t get into too much about how the movie ends – if you want to know more about that click here – but ultimately, Lucy Gray manages to escape District 12 – or perhaps dies trying, we don’t get a confirmation – and Snow goes back to the Capitol, re-earning his high place in society and working under Dr Gaul.

The movie ends basically when the book ends, but there is a big gap of time in between this movie and the original film franchise, leaving questions about multiple characters. But we can clearly see how Snow is about to become the ruthless President that he is.

In between the actions of the movie and the original trilogy, and from what we can gather from the books, a number of things happen, including but not limited to:

  • All evidence of Lucy Gray’s existence gets erased, including footage of the 10th Hunger Games – although Dr Gaul says she keeps some footage for herself.
  • The Capitol grows even more powerful, especially in terms of its experiments on muttations, which are then used in the games.
  • Snow also becomes more powerful, eventually becoming President. He does this through poisoning his political opponents like he did Highbottom, and avoids being poisoned due to building up a tolerance to it. He begins wearing a lot of roses to cover up the smell of blood in his mouth.
  • Snow marries Livia Cardew, someone who made fun of him in the Academy. He wants to be with someone he doesn’t like, so he can never be led by his heart again like he was with Lucy Gray.
  • The Hunger Games become far more like reality TV, with stylists, scores, bigger interviews, and a much bigger sense of occasion. It also becomes law to watch the Games.
  • Tigris and Snow drift apart, eventually leading to her wishing for his death and the victory of the Districts – read more about Tigris’ future here.
  • Katniss is born, and thus begins the lead up to the Revolution.

There’s also some stuff after Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes that we can theorise as Snow’s doing. Some fans have guessed that the Avox’s creation, the stricter fences around District 12, and the Hob changing from a performance space to a black market may all have been his way to get back at Lucy Gray; her voice, her freedom of movement, and her stage.

Will there be another Hunger Games movie?

That seems to depend on whether or not author Suzanne Collins will write another Hunger Games book. For now, that doesn’t seem to be the case, but according to director Francis Lawrence, there could be hope.

As we have already covered here at Dexerto, Collins currently has announced no plans to write another book. But if she were to, director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson would be very willing to adapt it for the screen.

As stated by Lawrence in an on-carpet interview, “Anything Hunger Games has to come from Suzanne… if she writes a book that turns into a series, awesome. Or if Suzanne writes another book that’s a movie, amazing.”

In an interview with Polygon, Jacobson said, “If [Collins] had a story in this world with something she wanted to talk about, something to explore, then great. But if not, better to leave a franchise as something people feel fondly about rather than crank out a sequel for the sake of a sequel.”

“Do I think she will write more books in the world? I do, and I hope she will. Do I have any idea what they’ll be? Not really!” she also revealed.

Many fans have been begging for years for books about Haymitch or Finnick’s Games, but who knows where any future Hunger Games project could take us?

Check out Dexerto’s other Hunger Games and Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes coverage below:

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