The Hunger Games film franchise is set to continue in a big way before long, with The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes set to slither into theaters later this fall. Set 64 years before the events of 2012’s The Hunger Games, the film centers on one Coriolanus Snow, future iron-fisted president of Panem who develops an unlikely bond with Lucy Gray Baird, a musically-inclined maverick and the female tribute from District 12 for the 10th Hunger Games.
A Hunger Games film without Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen was a tough pill for many a moviegoer to swallow. The No Hard Feelings star’s iconic turn as the stoic archer played a huge role in making newcomers fall in love with the Hunger Games mythos, so moving on without her will be unfamiliar territory for many.
And that’s especially true when you consider the character who’s replacing her as the female lead in Songbirds & Snakes. In a recent interview with Empire, Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence, who’s helmed every film in the franchise since Catching Fire, compared and contrasted Katniss’ introverted behavior with Lucy Gray’s more loud and artistic ethos.
Katniss was an introvert and a survivor. She was quite quiet and stoic, you could almost say [she was] asexual. Lucy Gray is the opposite. She wears her sexuality on her sleeve, [and] she really is
a performer.
Indeed, you’d be hard-pressed to find two heroines more different than Lucy and Katniss, but we’re not going to let that gross misuse of the asexual label slide so easily. We’re sure it’s just a case of innocent ignorance on Lawrence’s part, but the idea that asexual people are all just hardened, quiet statues that are occasionally good at archery is a stereotype that desperately needs to be left in the past; believe it or not, you’re allowed to be colorful and upbeat and artistic without having any interest in sex.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes slithers into theaters on Nov. 17.
