Over a decade after the first film was released, The Hunger Games franchise still stands as strong as ever, and the successful release of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes once again proved that. Based on Suzanne Collins’ novel of the same name, the film is the prequel to the original Hunger Games film series about tribute-turned-rebel Katniss Everdeen. This time, the prequel follows the story of a young Coriolanus Snow before we knew him as the president of Panem. But with the book being over 500 pages long, the story had to be reworked a bit into a few hours to turn it into a film. So here are some of the main differences between the book and the film versions of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Warning: Some spoilers ahead!

The Dark Days

The film: The movie opens with a flashback to the Dark Days when a young Coryo Snow and his cousin Tigris were scraping for food and the Capitol was in ruins around them with some residents even implied to have resorted to cannibalism.

The book: In the source material, however, this flashback comes much later in the story, as the book begins with Snow preparing for Reaping Day.

Coryo’s family

Tied to the flashback to the Dark Days is the revelation that Coryo’s father Crassus Snow was a military general killed by a rebel. While this was revealed in the book, the film added a little more context to this as Granma’am said that his father was killed by a rebel specifically from District 12. It’s a small detail but it gives more context to the intense hatred that President Snow would eventually hold for Katniss’ home district.

The Plinth Prize

ICYDK, the Plinth Prize is a monetary award from Strabo Plinth, who was able to move his family from District 2 to the Capitol after providing them with military weapons during the war. The book introduces the Plinth Prize halfway through the 10th Hunger Games after Sejanus Plinth, Strabo’s son and a Coryo Snow’s friend, entered the arena and nearly got himself and Snow killed. According to Snow, Strabo used it as a “hasty attempt to bury his son’s outrageous behavior in cash.”

Instead, the film turns the Plinth Prize into a way to introduce the character of Sejanus Plinth much earlier. He apologizes to Snow, who had hoped to win the prize, saying there had been a change in plans.

The Games’ mentorship system

In the film, this change of plans is, in fact, tied to the mentorship system of the Hunger Games. Originally, in the book, Snow was already set to be a mentor thanks to being one of the top students in his class. But in the film, it was a surprise that Academy students will serve as mentors. Moreover, it was another surprise that the Plinth Prize will not be awarded to the top student, as Snow expected, but to the student who serves as the best mentor in turning their tribute into a spectacle and not a survivor.

The sponsorship system

On top of that, during the 10th Hunger Games, the idea of having sponsors for tributes and mentors sending them items was fairly new. In the film, it was Snow and Sejanus who made it happen, but in the book, Sejanus was the one behind that idea.

Plus, in the book, things go smoothly the first time mentors try sending food and water to their tributes. But in the film, a lot of drones were faulty and a lot of them crashed too. But this faultiness turned into a weapon in Coryo Snow’s hand as he used it to help Lucy Gray.

Lucky Flickerman’s role

In the book, the very first host of the Hunger Games is a man named Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, who was a Capitol weatherman and an ancestor of eventual host Caesar Flickerman. Assisting him is Lepidus Malmsey, a Capitol News live reporter doing on-ground interviews about the tributes

However, in the film, it is only Lucky Flickerman who does both the hosting and the interviewing. So their roles have been combined.

Clemensia’s fate

In the film, Clemensia Dovecote, Coryo’s friend and fellow mentor, was bitten by one of Dr. Gaul’s snakes. But after that, she doesn’t appear again and we don’t know what happened to her.

But in the book, she is shown to have survived but with strange changes. After being bit, her eyes have turned yellow and she has developed rainbow scales similar to those of snakes.

Verdict

While there are some differences, they aren’t so drastic that book lovers would be disappointed in the film. The film stayed quite faithful to the book, and fans of the book will probably be happy to hear that.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is now available in theaters nationwide. Watch the trailer here:

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