Summary

• The prequel film contains many connections to the first four Hunger Games movies, including familiar names, places, and songs.
• Coriolanus Snow, as an 18-year-old mentor, is a central character and the most obvious connection to the previous films.
• The prequel introduces the first mentors for the Hunger Games, who are not former winners and showcases the use of drones in the arena for the first time.

The events of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes take place 64 years before Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) won the 74th Hunger Games, but the prequel contains numerous references to the first four movies in the franchise. The 2023 film depicts Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) as an 18-year-old trying to prove himself in the Capitol, and it highlights his complex relationship with the female tribute from District 12 for the 10th Hunger Games, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler).

Director Francis Lawrence and co-writers Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt wove many Easter eggs throughout the movie that connect to the wider The Hunger Games franchise. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes contains names, places, songs, and more that should sound familiar to those who watched the previous four films. None of the original actors from the other movies appear in the prequel, but a couple of recognizable characters are at the center of the story. Additionally, plenty of elements work as narrative devices to foreshadow what happens to Snow when he rules over Panem.

12 Coriolanus Snow

Snow appears in all five films

The most obvious connection that the prequel has to the first four Hunger Games films is Coriolanus Snow, better known as President Snow. The book that the movie is based on is told from young Coriolanus' perspective as he becomes a mentor during the 10th Hunger Games. The film adapts the story and explains how Snow turns into the ruthless leader fans met 64 years later and whose sworn enemy is a 16-year-old girl from District 12.

"It's the things we love most that destroy us,"

Whereas Donald Sutherland plays Snow when the character is in his eighties and ruling over Panem, Tom Blyth portrays him as a teenager. But Sutherland has a subtle offscreen cameo at the end of the prequel when his voice is heard saying, "It's the things we love most that destroy us," which foreshadows Snow's ending in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and the movie franchise as a whole.

11 "The Hanging Tree"

The song is heard in the prequel and the third movie

Music plays an important role in all the Hunger Games movies, and one song ties the prequel to the third film in the series — "The Hanging Tree." Katniss sings the tune while she and the propaganda team are in District 12 capturing footage for the Rebellion's Airtime Assault in Mockingjay – Part 1. Her performance is aired to the people of Panem, and District 5 rebels later sing the song while on their way to blow up the hydroelectric dam that supplies electricity to the Capitol.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes reveals the melody was written by Lucy Gray Baird, a resident of District 12 and the winner of the 10th Hunger Games. She coins "The Hanging Tree" following the execution of an innocent man who was blamed for three murders. Some fans believe that Lucy Gray taught her cousin, Maude Ivory Baird, the song, and she ed it on to Katniss' father, who sang it to Katniss. The theory is that Maude Ivory is Katniss' grandmother, but neither the movie nor the book confirms that.

10 Mentors For The Hunger Games

Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes features the first mentors

The 2023 prequel showcases the first-ever mentors for the Hunger Games. However, unlike the mentors in the first two films, they are not former winners of the annual Games. Instead, the mentors are top-performing students from the Academy who are each assigned a tribute to help prepare for the 10th Hunger Games. Coriolanus' tribute is Lucy Gray, and he is undoubtedly the most dedicated adviser of them all.

But given how the competition ends, it makes sense why the Gamemakers change the holder of the mentor role from Capitol students to past winners, as seen in The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Lucy Gray, it should be noted, never becomes a mentor despite her win, since she disappears after the events of this story with her fate left up in the air for the viewers.

9 Lucky Flickerman

The host of the 10th Hunger Games is likely related to another future presenter

The 10th Hunger Games in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes includes another first in the annual competition — a host. The Capitol's weather forecaster, Lucky Flickerman, played by Jason Schwartzman, lands the job, and his last name should sound familiar to those who watched the other movies. Caesar Flickerman, played by Stanley Tucci, is the longtime host of the Games 64 years later in The Hunger Games.

Given that the two men share a last name and Lucky alludes to having a baby in the prequel when he requests a highchair for dinner, Caesar is likely Lucky's son who follows in his footsteps when he gets older. Lucky isn't nearly as theatrical as Caesar, but that makes sense considering the games also aren't as big of a spectacle as they eventually become.

8 Drones In The Arena

Drones were introduced in the 10th Hunger Games

For the first time since the Games were invented, the mentors send their tributes gifts in the arena via drones in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Most commonly, these gifts are bottles of water when Lucy Gray is in the arena since the environment of the arena is very different from the natural environments tributes can use in the future.

The Gamemakers perfect the method following the 10th Hunger Games since the drones are too fast and aren't effective in the prequel.

As fans recall, Haymitch Abernathy uses money from sponsors to give Katniss and Peeta things like medicine and food during the 74th Hunger Games. However, the Gamemakers perfect the method following the 10th Hunger Games since the drones are too fast and aren't effective in the prequel. It's clear that technology will advance drastically over the next six decades since the drones in the future are smaller, sent nearly right to their tributes, and emit a slight whistling sound to alert their tributes they're on the way.

7 Tigris Snow

Tigris appears in Mockingjay – Part 2

Aside from Coriolanus, Tigris Snow is the only character in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes who appeared in a previous movie. Tigris has a bigger role in the prequel as it is revealed she is Coriolanus' cousin and confidant. She encourages him to try his hardest and appears to empathize with his relationship with Lucy Gray.

However, their relationship changes after Coriolanus embraces his darkness, and Tigris reaches a point where she is more than ready to help the rebels take down her cousin. Katniss and her team seek shelter at Tigris' shop in Mockingjay – Part 2 while on their way to kill President Snow. She is fully ive of their plan and no longer involved in the games that the president runs. Hunter Schafer plays Tigris in the prequel, while Eugenie Bondurant portrays her in the fourth film.

6 Peacekeepers

Peacekeepers look different in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Peacekeepers are known as ruthless law enforcement officials in the districts of Panem in The Hunger Games. While they do try to keep order and carry out executions in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the Peacekeepers are less strict (and they have less imposing uniforms) than they are in the future. It's clear during Katniss' time that they rule the district with an iron fist.

Coriolanus and Sejanus Plinth are punished for interfering with the 10th Hunger Games by being forced to become Peacekeepers in District 12. It's interesting that a placement in that district would originally be seen as a punishment since being stationed there actually affords them a little freedom, no longer under the watchful eye of the Capitol. While there, Coriolanus develops a deep hatred for the district and its mockingjays that carry into Katniss Everdeen's time in the arena.

5 Hilarius Heavensbee

One mentor is likely related to an important Hunger Games character

Hilarius Heavensbee doesn't have a prominent role in the prequel, but he is mentioned as one of the 24 mentors for the 10th Hunger Games as one of the Academy's students. The student shares a last name with Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who is introduced as Seneca Crane's (Wes Bentley) replacement as Head Gamemaker in Catching Fire. Gamemaker, 60 years later, has become a dangerous position as many of them who upset Snow end up dead.

It's Plutarch who helps the rebels overthrow the Capitol and President Snow in the future. Plutarch is instrumental in connecting which game victors would be willing to rebel with one another. He's also one of the only ones to be aware that District 13 exists. Plutarch is likely Hilarius' son due to the age of Philip Seymour Hoffman when playing the role, but this theory isn't confirmed.

4 The Hob

Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes features iconic District 12 locations

A significant portion of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes takes place in Lucy Gray's home — District 12. One of the most recognizable spots during these scenes is the Hob, where the Covey perform. Unfortunately, following Lucy Gray's disappearance, the Peacekeepers ban the music of the traveling musicians who settled there, and the Hob is later turned into a black market, as seen in The Hunger Games.

The Hob is where Katniss usually sells game that she catches due to her illegal hunting activities, and in the movies, it's where she picks up the Mockingjay pin that she intends for Prim to keep as a gift, but becomes her symbol. The establishment is then burned down in Catching Fire when Commander Thread takes over as the Head Peacekeeper in District 12.

3 Arachne Crane

Arachne might be related to the Head Gamemaker of the 74th Hunger Games

Many of the character names in the prequel will jog the memory of long-time fans of the franchise. That's especially true of the mentors. Another mentor in the 10th Hunger Games is Arachne Crane, who is assigned the female tribute from District 10, Brandy.

However, when Arachne taunts Brandy with a sandwich, the tribute reaches through the bars of the zoo where they are being kept and slits her mentor's throat with a knife. This moment drives a wedge between many of the mentors and the tributes as they are all being forced into their positions, but the mentors are vying for power and the tributes are desperate to survive. Arachne dies (and Brandy is shot dead by Peacekeepers), but her family's legacy in the annual competition seemingly carries on. Seneca Crane, the Head Gamemaker of the 74th Hunger Games, is likely a relative of Arachne's.