If you’re like us, you’ve been eagerly awaiting the film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games prequel, . Luckily, the wait is over. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes hits the big screen on Friday, November 17, 2023. 

The novel was first released back in 2020, narrated to perfection by Santino Fontana. It’s set when President Snow was a young man, 64 years before the story of Katniss Everdeen begins. I can vouch for how good it is—the combination of Collins’s storytelling and Fontana’s exquisite performance made me walk my dog way longer than initially planned just so I could keep listening.

This essential guide to The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will give you the basics on the bestseller, some background on major characters, and everything else you need to know before you settle in at the theater this weekend. (Warning—spoilers ahead!)

What is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes about?

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel to the wildly popular The Hunger Games trilogy, taking place more than 60 years before Katniss volunteers as tribute. Essentially, it’s the origin story of President Coriolanus Snow. When the novel opens, Coriolanus is among 24 students at the Academy handpicked to serve as a mentor to one of the tributes in the 10th Annual Hunger Games. 

Once prestigious citizens of the Capitol, the Snow family has lost all of their wealth and most of their members. Young Coriolanus lives meagerly with his grandmother and cousin, Tigris, in the Snow penthouse apartment. Yet the Snow name carries with it many enemies, and as a result, Coriolanus is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from District 12 and the tribute determined most likely to fail. But Lucy Gray starts the games with a bang, putting a snake down the dress of the girl responsible for her name being selected and capturing the Capitol’s attention with a song on the reaping stage. Coriolanus begins to think that he has a chance at winning after all. 

The games looked much different in the early days. The tributes are treated as if inhuman—they’re brought to the Capitol in a cattle car, kept in cages in a deserted zoo, and deprived of food and water. Many die before the games even begin. Coriolanus is determined to form a bond with Lucy Gray, which he does through a combination of kindness and cunning. Yet the more time he spends with her, the more his burgeoning romantic feelings grow. When the games begin, Coriolanus wants Lucy Gray to win not only for the prestige it will gain him and his family but also because he truly cares for her. 

Through her connection to Coriolanus and a few advantages he gives her to bring into the arena, along with her wit and no small amount of luck, Lucy Gray becomes the victor of the 10th Hunger Games. At this time, victors returned to their districts. Lucy Gray returns to The Covey, a nomadic people, many of them musicians, who don’t identify as citizens of any district. Just when Coriolanus thinks he’ll finally get back on top where he belongs, Dean Highbottom of the Academy informs him that giving his tribute gifts to take into arena disqualifies him from any accolades. He’s forced to join the Peacekeepers, where he asks to be assigned to District 12 in hopes of reconnecting with Lucy Gray. The two find each other again and believe they are fated to be together. Sejanus Plinth, another mentor, classmate of Coriolanus, and rebel sympathizer, joins the Peacekeepers and is assigned to District 12 as well. When Coriolanus realizes that Sejanus is planning to help some citizens of District 12 escape, he uses a jabberjay to catch his plan and turn him in. The next day, Sejanus is hung for treason. Worried for their safety and future as a couple, Coriolanus and Lucy Gray decide to run away together. Along the way, Coriolanus accidentally tells a secret that lets Lucy Gray know he’s still loyal to the Capitol. Once she realizes the truth, she escapes him. Coriolanus returns to the Capitol alone, where he becomes an apprentice gamemaker under Dr. Gaul, the head gamemaker of the 10th Games.