The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes – Film

In the dystopian, war-ravaged country of Panem, the noble Snow family’s patriarch, General Crassus Snow, dies during the First Rebellion between the Capitol and the Districts. Thirteen years later, Crassus’ eighteen-year-old son, Coriolanus, is one of twenty-four Academy students selected to mentor a tribute in the 10th Annual Hunger Games. Coriolanus determines to restore his family’s prosperity by earning the Plinth Prize scholarship. Games creator and Academy dean, Casca Highbottom, advises mentors to focus on entertaining viewers rather than tributes winning the Games.

Coriolanus is assigned to mentor District 12 female tribute Lucy Gray Baird. During the reaping ceremony, she charms Capitol viewers by singing and slipping a snake into Mayor Lipp’s cruel daughter Mayfair’s dress. While fellow mentor Arachne Crane taunts her tribute, who then kills her, Coriolanus earns Lucy Gray’s trust, riding with her to the Capitol Zoo, and helps her win Capitol citizens’ sympathy, much to Highbottom’s displeasure, as he paired Coriolanus with a District 12 tribute so he would fail.

Coriolanus proposes a sponsorship scheme to Head Gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul, whereby Capitol viewers donate supplies to tributes via their mentors during the Games to increase viewership. Coriolanus’ classmate, Clemensia Dovecote, takes the credit. Gaul places the proposal document into a tank of genetically modified snakes that do not attack familiar scents. Gaul has Clemensia retrieve it. Not recognizing Clemensia’s scent, the snakes critically wound her – confirming it was Coriolanus’ proposal.

During a Games arena tour, rebel bombs explode, killing several mentors including the President’s son, Felix Ravinstill, and tributes. When Lucy Gray saves Coriolanus from falling debris, he gifts her with rat poison to use as a weapon. The Games begin with several tributes dying in the initial bloodbath. Lucy Gray escapes through an explosion-caused hole, hiding in a service tunnel with fellow District 12 tribute Jessup. Coriolanus’ wealthy friend and fellow mentor, Sejanus Plinth, resenting the Games’ cruelty, sneaks into the arena and mourns next to his fallen tribute Marcus, a former District 2 classmate. Gaul persuades Coriolanus to retrieve Sejanus from the arena. When tributes attack them, Coriolanus kills one.

To avenge Felix’s death, Gaul releases snakes into the arena, killing every tribute but Lucy Gray; Coriolanus had secretly put a handkerchief bearing her scent into the snake tank. Gaul refuses to declare her the victor until Capitol viewers pressure Gaul. After the victory celebration, Highbottom confronts Coriolanus with the handkerchief and poison and sentences him to serve twenty years as a Peacekeeper for cheating. Sejanus volunteers as a Peacekeeper to join him. Coriolanus bribes an officer to transfer him to District 12, where he and Sejanus begin Peacekeeper training.

After a man is hanged, inspiring Lucy Gray’s “The Hanging Tree” song, Coriolanus and Sejanus visit the Hob bar where Lucy Gray performs with the Covey, a nomadic band. Coriolanus overhears Sejanus helping rebels planning to escape. He then confronts Sejanus and uses a jabberjay to record his confession and sends it to Gaul. Coriolanus later finds Sejanus talking to rebel Spruce, Lucy Gray’s ex-boyfriend Billy Taupe, and his girlfriend Mayfair, leading to an altercation. Coriolanus fatally shoots Mayfair and Spruce kills Billy. Sejanus and Spruce are subsequently hanged for treason while Lucy Gray and Coriolanus escape.

Heading north, Coriolanus finds Spruce’s weapons hidden in a lakeside cabin. Lucy Gray runs away after realizing she was the only loose end to stop Coriolanus from returning to the Capitol. As Coriolanus pursues her, a snake set in a trap bites him. Disoriented, he shoots his rifle blindly after hearing jabberjays mimicking Lucy Gray’s voice. Coriolanus is unsure if she was hit, leaving her fate unknown.

Coriolanus returns to the Capitol, where Gaul reveals she had him honorably discharged and enrolls him at the university. Sejanus’ parents, unaware he caused their son’s death, make him their heir, restoring the Snows’ wealth. Coriolanus visits Highbottom, who confesses the Games were never intended to be reality; they were merely his drunken idea Coriolanus’s father, Crassus, had stolen, and he set Coriolanus up as revenge for the bloodshed he indirectly caused. Coriolanus kills Highbottom by slipping poison into his morphling stash. Gaul later trains Coriolanus as a Gamemaker, beginning his rise to power.