The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie is a great adaptation of Suzanne Collins's prequel to The Hunger Games. Fans got to see how a young Coriolanus Snow became the infamous President Snow that everyone across Panem feared so much in the original trilogy. Many important parts and details made it into the movie, but some pretty major changes were made as well.

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This article will talk about some of the most important differences between The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie and the book; it'll help fans who have read the book remember some major points and provide some insight for those who haven't.

This article includes major spoilers for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Snow's Possessiveness

In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book, fans got to read Snow's mind, so they were aware of what his thoughts were most of the time. Since this was not the case in the movie adaptation, it was impossible to know what was going through his head, and this hindered fans' ability to see what he truly was before he went to the lake with Lucy Gray.

Coriolanus Snow is quite a possessive man. Although in the movie he showed a hint of jealousy after Lucy Gray sang about Billy Taupe during the interview before the games, this was a much bigger issue in the books. He barely voiced this, but inside his mind, there was somewhat of an obsession over Lucy Gray being only his girl. At one point in the book, a member of the Covey mentioned she was away with Shamus, and his mind started to race over Lucy Gray spending time with another man, but it turned out to be her pet goat.

Cameras In the Arena

In Panem, The Hunger Games are broadcast live on TV, so there are cameras everywhere. However, since the tunnels underneath the arena were only accessible due to the bombings, the Gamemakers didn't have any cameras down there - this was not the case in the movies.

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Jessup and Lucy Gray Baird spent a lot of their time hidden in the tunnels. In the book, this became a source of stress for young Coriolanus Snow, as he was unable to tell how his tribute was doing. In the movies, this wasn't a concern because cameras had been put nearly everywhere besides the vent that Lucy Gray sneaked into before the end of the games, which even led Lucky Flickerman to comment on how this must be changed next year.

Snow's Recording

Coriolanus betraying Sejanus Plinth is one of the saddest moments in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and it, unfortunately, resulted in his death. Snow used a Jabberyjay to record Sejanus's rebellious acts and then delivered the bird back to Dr. Gaul. This led to his being arrested and hung for treason.

As if this wasn't heartbreaking enough, the movie takes it up a notch; the Peacekeepers actually play the treacherous recording before hanging Sejanus. In the book, the man died without knowing that his only friend had betrayed him, while in the movie, he had to learn this right before his death.

Lucy Gray's Kills

In the movie, fans get to see Lucy Gray accidentally poison Dill with the water bottle and Treech through the vent. In the book, her poison was used on two completely different tributes: Wovey and Reaper. Both of these tributes were taken out by snakes in the movie; Wovey was the first to be killed after approaching the tank and asking if it meant they could go home, and Reaper let himself be consumed after seeing his fellow tributes be devoured by them.

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The Final Two

In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book, Lucy Gray and Reaper were the final remaining tributes in the Hunger Games. She did not want to hurt him, so she resorted to tiring him out by removing the flag that he had used to cover the bodies in his makeshift cemetery, and then she killed him by poisoning a puddle of water.

Tigris's Line

Even though Coriolanus Snow is an orphan, there is no doubt that his father is a very important figure in his life who still haunts him throughout the events that take place in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Everyone at the Academy associates the two, especially Dean Casca Highbottom who still harbors a lot of resentment against Crassus Snow and takes it out on his kin.

Early on in the movie, Tigris, Snow's cousin, mentions that what she remembers most about Snow's father is looking into his eyes and seeing nothing but hatred. Right before the end of the movie, Snow asks her how he looks, and she replies that he looks just like her father. This line was not part of the movie, but it fits right in, as it resonates perfectly with her memory of Crassus Snow and how eerily similar his son has become.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Release Date

November 17, 2023

Director

Francis Lawrence

Cast

Rachel Zegler , Hunter Schafer , Tom Blyth , Peter Dinklage , Viola Davis , Jason Schwartzman , Josh Andrés Rivera

Runtime

157 Minutes

Franchise

The Hunger Games