Viola Davis Cast as the Head Gamemaker for the Hunger Games Prequel

The Hunger Games trilogy may be over, but we’re expecting one more return to the world of Panem with The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The cast has been slowly filling out over the past few months, and the movie has just announced who will be playing the head gamemaker.

As per the official announcement, Viola Davis (The Suicide Squad) has been cast as Dr. Volumnia Gaul. Here’s the post:

https://twitter.com/TheHungerGames/status/1559239724216115201

We don’t have that many details on Davis’ role in the movie, but we do know that the gamemaker in the movies mostly spends the runtime inside a room full of screens barking orders at people in consoles—pretty much what her Amanda Waller does in the Suicide Squad movies.

Besides Davis, the movie also includes Hunter Schafer, Peter Dinklage, and Jason Schwartzman. The leads Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird will also be played by Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler respectively.

With a release set for November of next year, it could be a while before we get a look at the film. While Songbirds and Snakes was only one book, I have a feeling that Lionsgate wants to build a new trilogy—possibly following the descent of a young Snow.

Return to The Hunger Games, the landmark film franchise that has earned over $3 billion globally, with Lionsgate’s adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ #1 New York Times Bestseller The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy Gray’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.

Catch The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes when it hits theaters Nov. 17, 2023.