The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, just made another impressive addition to its cast in the form of Game of Thrones and Avengers: Infinity War star Peter Dinklage. The Emmy Award-winning actor is set to play Casca Highbottom, the Dean of the Academy.
He joins a cast that includes Tom Blyth as the young Coriolanus Snow and Rachel Zegler as tribute Lucy Gray Baird. Filmmaker Francis Lawrence is returning to helm this adaptation of Suzanne Collins' novel and tells Deadline (via SFFGazette.com), "Dean Highbottom is one of the most powerful people in Snow's life. As the austere and vindictive face of the games, he sets the rules that will determine every aspect of Coriolanus's fate. I’m thrilled that Peter will be bringing him to life."
The Hunger Games franchise grossed more than $3 billion at the global box office and is, obviously, a big earner for Lionsgate. The studio has high hopes for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and it's currently set to be released on November 17, 2023. The story picks up years before the 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem.
The last hope for his fading lineage, his 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 favour.
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 who is a snake.
"With production underway, we couldn’t be more excited about the way this cast has come together and thrilled to be welcoming Peter Dinklage to Panem. Peter is not just a fan favorite actor who brings a commanding presence to every part he plays," says Nathan Kahane, President of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group. "He is one of the best actors alive. He will bring a formidable, charismatic authority to the important role of the Dean of the Academy."
"I cannot think of an actor more perfectly suited to inhabit the role of Highbottom," franchise producer Nina Jacobson adds. "As the man credited with conceiving the Hunger Games and the Dean of the Academy, Casca Highbottom is a character with secrets. Peter’s magnetism, intensity and dark humor will infuse him with the intelligence, depth and pathos that the role demands."
Michael Lesslie wrote the latest draft of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, though Suzanne Collins and Michael Arndt worked on a previous draft. As for Dinklage, he's best known for playing Tyrion Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones, and most recently starred in Cyrano (he was supposed to return as Eitri in Thor: Love and Thunder but, like Jeff Goldblum, he ended up being cut).
Stay tuned to SFFGazette.com for the latest on The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes?