ComScore

We’re Officially Getting a ‘Hunger Games’ Prequel Movie. Here’s What We Know

the hunger games 4

For years, Hunger Games fans patiently awaited news about a new book, but now it looks like we’re getting a new movie along with it. 

That’s right, it was announced Tuesday that Suzanne Collins’s latest Panem novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snake (which drops on May 19), will be adapted for the big screen by the same team behind Catching Fire and Mockingjay. According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Francis Lawrence, screenwriter Michael Arndt and producer Nina Jacobson will all be returning for the new film. 

“Lionsgate has always been the cinematic home of The Hunger Games, and I’m delighted to be returning to them with this new book,” Collins said in a statement. “From the beginning, they have treated the source material with great respect, honoring the thematic and narrative elements of the story, and assembling an incredible team both in front of and behind the camera. It’s such a pleasure to be reuniting with Nina, Francis, and Michael to adapt the novel to the screen, and having them share their remarkable talents, once again, with the world of Panem. I look forward to collaborating with them and all at Lionsgate as we bring The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes to theaters worldwide.”

The new installment is set to focus on a young Coriolanus Snow (something that fans were originally unhappy about), years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem. In case you don’t remember, President Snow is more antagonist than protagonist. Played by Donald Sutherland in the films, he’s the main villain of the entire series.

No information has been revealed as far as casting yet. However, since there will be “a new canvas of characters,” we’re not too optimistic that J-Law and Liam Hemsworth will be returning.

We’ll still be crossing our fingers, though. 

This New Video of Stanley Tucci Making a Cocktail to Smooth Jazz Is Totally Going Viral