Viola Davis Set to Play Villainous New Character in Upcoming ‘Hunger Games’ Prequel

New casting alert! Viola Davis has joined the cast of the highly anticipated Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. And fortunately, we’ll see another side of the Oscar-winning actress because she’ll be playing the role of a sinister character.

The exciting news was announced on the movie’s official Instagram page yesterday, where a black-and-white picture of the 57-year-old actress on display. The caption read: “Meet your Head Gamemaker. Viola Davis has been cast as Dr. Volumnia Gaul in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - arriving in theaters November 2023.”

Davis will portray Gaul, who is the head gamemaker of the 10th annual Hunger Games. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the character is as “cruel as she is creative and as fearsome as she is formidable.”

The Fences actress will star alongside Rachel Zegler (Lucy Gray Baird), Tom Blyth (young Coriolanus Snow), Hunter Schafer (Tigris Snow), Lauren Marsden (Mayfair Lipp), Peter Dinklage (Casca Highbottom), Jason Schwartzman (Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman) and Josh Andrés Rivera (Sejanus Plinth).