Watch: First look at ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’

The Hunger Games first spin-off film has had its first look revealed, with the franchise returning to screens with a vengeance with The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

There’ll be no Jennifer Lawrence or Josh Hutcherson in this spin-off set many years prior to the events of The Hunger Games quadrilogy, as it follows a younger version of the president of Panem as he comes of age and slowly becomes more evil and much more like a pantomime villain in time for the original films.

The film will star Rachel Zegler who has just come off the back of a Golden Globe win for her role in West Side Story, as well as The Gilded Age star Tom Blyth. Debuting at the 2022 MTV Movie and TV Awards, the teaser trailer has shown no actual footage, but instead some strange artistic gilded animals. Exactly what people associate with The Hunger Games, and not the Mockingjay symbol.

Lionsgate giving a return to their successful young adult series should not come as much of a shock, as they look to make a return to their 2000s heyday which was punctuated by The Twilight Saga, Blair Witch, and the unforgettable dance films Step-Up. All movie franchises the public still deeply cares about.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to hit cinemas Nov. 17, 2023, with the film directed by Francis Lawrence (no relation to Jennifer) who is returning from his time with the previous The Hunger Games films.