Changing the Games

THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES LEADING LADIES PUT A NEW TWIST ON THE HUNGER GAMES FRANCHISE WHILE FORGING THEIR OWN UNIQUE PATHS IN HOLLYWOOD 

- JACK SMART 

Who between Hunter Schafer and Rachel Zegler was a bigger Hunger Games fan? “I was obsessed,” says Zegler, 22, who went to the theater to watch the original fi lms with hair braided like Jennifer Lawrence’s rebellious Katniss Everdeen. Schafer, 24, devoured the Suzanne Collins books the fi lms are based on—and almost auditioned for background work when the fi rst adaptation, which came out in 2012, was shot near her North Carolina hometown. Their fandom has now come full circle as the two star in the new prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. “It’s crazy to be here now,” says Schafer, known for her role on Euphoria and her work as an LGBTQ+ activist. Zegler, who played María in 2021’s West Side Story and will be the fi rst Latina to portray Snow White in Disney’s upcoming adaptation, says joining the franchise is “a wonderful moment to realize that you’re part of something that so many people really care about. And that it’s stood the test of time.”