Eight years after its fourth installment hit theaters, the Hunger Games franchise has returned. Rather than continuing the story of Katniss Everdeen, though, the series’ latest installment, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, is a prequel set 60 years before the events of its first four films. It’s based on author Suzanne Collins’ 2020 novel of the same name, and both the new film and its source material attempt to offer a closer look at the threat of authoritarianism than even the original Hunger Games movies and books.
