Ever wondered what happened to President Snow and why he was a huge force in the Hunger Games, the series that took Generation Z by storm during the early 2010s? Rachel Zegler, who plays Lucy Gray Baird, and Tom Blyth, who plays the infamous President Snow, tell the story behind the rise of Coriolanus Snow and how he became the notorious villain we see in the earlier Hunger Games movies.
Zegler is mostly known for playing Maria in the Steven Spielberg movie, West Side Story. Zegler also has a huge online presence, posting music covers on Youtube. She is known for her cover of “Shallow” by Lady GaGa, which has garnered millions of views, as reported by Medium.
The movie, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, opens up with Tigris Snow, played by Hunter Schafer, the cousin of Coriolanus, as well as his grandmother. Coriolanus and Tigris are young children running away from danger, which shows their seemingly everlasting companionship and will to stick together and look out for each other.
The movie then fast forwards to the future, when Coriolanus is assigned to be one of the district mentors in the Hunger Games, which is an annual game where district residents fight to the death in a bloody battle orchestrated by the leader, Dr. Volumnia Gaul. It was established as a punishment to the districts for revolting against the Capitol. The movie later presents Lucy Gray Baird, one of the selected tributes of the Hunger Games, during the reaping. There, she puts a snake inside the dress of the mayor’s daughter and sings a tune against the Capitol, showcasing her powerful vocals, as Lucy Gray is known for being a singer-songwriter in the film.
Lucy Gray is assigned to have Coriolanus as her mentor, and he appears to be mesmerized by her voice and builds a bit of a crush on Lucy Gray throughout the film. Many of the tributes from the other districts are fueled with resentment and hatred towards the mentors since they view them as the reason why they are in their positions. Coriolanus and Lucy Gray, on the other hand, are starting to spark an infatuation with one another, which motivated Coriolanus to help her out after the games began. He uses drones to distract her oppressors and forces Dr. Volumnia Gaul to release her after being the last to remain standing after the snakes had killed all of the remaining tributes.
Sejanus, played by Josh Rivera, is one of the mentors. Sejanus, who is more sympathetic and rational towards the tributes, has been very vocal about the abolition of the Hunger Games and has questioned its morality. Unfortunately, Sejanus’ voice was overlooked and drowned out by the selfishness and cruelty of Dr. Volumnia Gaul, who is aligned with Coriolanus Snow. Coriolanus and Sejanus have a few setbacks with one another, but there is a budding friendship between them. Coriolanus decides to save Sejanus after he wanders into the arena after his tribute dies. In the process of saving him, Coriolanus kills one of the tributes after they try to attack him, which causes a revelation that he indeed just murdered somebody; this is the start of the President Snow that fans of the Hunger Games movie series know.
Photo Credit: Radio Times.
President Snow is the main villain in the original Hunger Games trilogy and is supposed to be evil. Yet, his love for Lucy Gray tends to soften up his heart of stone. Coriolanus and Lucy start spending time together in a typical rom-com montage of swimming in a lake together, hanging out near the dock, and playing with snakes. All of these events occur after Coriolanus becomes a peacekeeper with his best friend Sejanus. Peacekeepers are men who work for the Capitol as sergeants in the districts. Both friends get into trouble after certain events lead to Coriolanus killing the Mayor’s daughter. Coriolanus and his hunger for power and success have become the driving force for him to choose himself over the people he cares about. He allowed the Mayor and his people to hang Sejanus for planning an escape with some district locals. Coriolanus witnessed his friend’s cold death first-hand without uttering anything in objection.
After Lucy Gray finds out about this, she grows suspicious and distant from Coriolanus. From there, he lashes out at her while they are in the forest plotting to run away together. He was still trying to escape being caught as the killer. He supposedly kills Lucy Gray as she runs away, though some theories say she survived. This became the catalyst to the evil reign that became President Snow, continuing the annual event of the Hunger Games as he prioritizes power over his own morals. As most book-to-movie adaptations, there are a few parts left out. As a movie, it was very interesting to find out the background story of President Snow and the reason why he became who he was in the original series. It shows that people are who they are based on their past experiences and trauma.
