“Hunger Games” prequel film “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is full of references to the four films that come after it, but the biggest connection between this movie and those is musical.
As sourced in Suzanne Collins’ prequel novel, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) wrote “The Hanging Tree” inspired by historical events in District 12, which she and Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) both witnessed. The song takes on more meaning when imbued with the backstory of Panem and how President Snow came to be as the Hunger Games also developed.
“Hunger Games” fans will remember it’s a song that Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen sings in “Mockingjay.”