Peter Dinklage is set to join the growing ensemble cast of the anticipated Hunger Games prequel film, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. The Emmy Award-winning actor will play Casca Highbottom, the dean of the Academy where young Coriolanus Snow is a student, Deadline is reporting.
Dinklage will appear in the dystopian action-adventure movie alongside Benediction actor Tom Blyth, who will play Snow; Golden Globe Award-winning West Side Story actress Rachel Zegler as tribute Lucy Gray Baird; and Euphoria actress Hunter Schafer, who has been cast as Tigris Snow.
The news of Dinklage’s casting comes after Lionsgate recently announced that it will distribute The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in theaters worldwide on November 17, 2023.
The studio also released the following logline for the series’ prequel: Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow 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, 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’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.
“With production underway, we couldn’t be more excited about the way this cast has come together and thrilled to be welcoming Peter Dinklage to Panem,” said Nathan Kahane, President of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group. “Peter is not just a fan favorite actor who brings a commanding presence to every part he plays. He is one of the best actors alive. He will bring a formidable, charismatic authority to the important role of the dean of the Academy.”
Francis Lawrence, who directed the film franchise’s three sequels – Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part One, and Mockingjay Part Two – will helm the screen adaptation of the 2020 prequel novel, which was written by series author, Suzanne Collins.
The latest draft of the drama’s screenplay was written by Michael Lesslie, who’s building on the work of Collins and Michael Arndt, who penned a previous draft of the script. Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien are overseeing the screenplay on behalf of the studio.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be shepherded by franchise producer Nina Jacobson and her producing partner, Brad Simpson. They’ll be joined by Lawrence, Collins, Tim Palen and Jim Miller, who will all serve as executive producers on the upcoming movie.
“I cannot think of an actor more perfectly suited to inhabit the role of Highbottom,” Jacobson said. “As the man credited with conceiving the Hunger Games and the Dean of the Academy, Casca Highbottom is a character with secrets. Peter’s magnetism, intensity and dark humor will infuse him with the intelligence, depth and pathos that the role demands.”
Dinklage, who’s best known for his acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning portrayal of Tyrion Lannister on HBO’s global hit fantasy television show, Game of Thrones, has been steadily working since the drama ended in 2018. He was nominated for the Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Golden Globe Award earlier this year for his most recent film, the musical romantic drama, Cyrano.
The actor’s upcoming work includes starring in director Max Barbakow’s comedy, Brothers, opposite Josh Brolin and Brendan Fraser. He’ll also be seen in writer-director Rebecca Miller’s comedy-drama, She Came to Me, opposite Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei.