Tom Blyth & Hunter Schafer Walk The Red Carpet At Premiere Of The New ‘Hunger Games’ Movie

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the new addition to the franchise, had its world premiere at London’s BFI Imax on Thursday, with red-carpet appearances from stars Rachel Ziegler, Tom Blyth, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andres Rivera and director Francis Lawrence.

The debut of the latest installment in Suzanne Collins‘ franchise, adapted from her prequel novel, is set more than 60 years before The Hunger Games and follows the 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Blyth) Before he became a tyrannical president. As the tenth annual Hunger Games rapidly approaches, young Snow is taken aback when he is chosen as the mentor for Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), the tribute from impoverished District 12. Snow and Baird combine their talents in an attempt to manipulate the odds in their favor.

This marks the first significant global premiere (outside of a festival) to feature actors on the media line since the commencement of the SAG-AFTRA strike in July.

Even if a tentative agreement between the guild and the studios to conclude the strike had not been reached two days ago, the movie had already obtained an Interim Agreement with Lionsgate, a non-AMPTP company. At 118 days, this was the longest movie and television strike in the union’s 90-year history. 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is set to hit theaters worldwide on November 17.