Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Cast Believes [SPOILER] Did Survive, Here's Why

Summary

• Despite mixed reviews from critics, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes proved to be a faithful adaptation of the novel.
• As in Suzanne Collins' book, the fate of one character is full of tragedy and culminates in an open ending.
• The main actors shared their opinions about the character's chances of survival.

The final installment of The Hunger Games film franchise, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which is also a prequel, did not receive the same rave reviews from critics as the previous films. However, it managed to make an impressive amount of money in less than two weeks, and fans were incredibly pleased with the result, largely due to the extent to which Francis Lawrence, working closely with Suzanne Collins, successfully and faithfully adapted the novel, providing a gripping and violent backstory to the totalitarian system of Panem led by President Snow.

The movie has an incredibly talented cast, but the star of the show was Rachel Zegler, playing Lucy Gray, who later became a symbol of the Resistance. For those unfamiliar with the source material, the character's open ending was heartbreaking and disturbing, but fans familiar with the book can't stop wondering about her fate. The cast members also shared their thoughts.

This article contains spoilers, so we strongly recommend that you watch the movie or read the book first!

The Cast's Take on the Survival

As part of a press tour, Happy Sad Confused's Josh Horowitz talked to the cast of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes about their thoughts on whether Snow killed Lucy or if she managed to escape. Naturally, the lead actors, whose characters were at the center of the tragedy, had the most to say.

'Lucy Gray's motivation is to stay alive for myriad reasons: for herself, for her family, and for the hope of a better future for everyone, for the entirety of Panem. And so, my hope is that he's [Snow's] having actual delusions at the end from the snake bite, and that my footsteps do continue, or I scaled a tree and… Chose!' Rachel Zegler expressed the sentiments about her character's fate.

'I believe in her survival. I believe in her ability to survive because off-camera Casca Highbottom says that he's thankful that she survives Coriolanus, and I think it would be a disservice to her if she didn't actually follow through on.'

'I think, she survives because Coriolanus lives in fear for the rest of his life,' Tom Blyth agreed. 'At the end, you'll see that he is way closer to becoming the future tyrant, President Snow. And it's all because, I think, he's totally fearful of the freedom that she represents, and I do think she has to live on for that freedom to live in him, as an innate fear that he tries to control for the rest of his life.'

'My approach to her was how do I make this person so enigmatic and powerful, yet still have a softness about her that he's able to fall in love with that haunts him for the rest of his life. He looks at Katniss and he is scared out of his mind because of what she represents that remind him of Lucy Gray,' Zegler continued, pointing to the constant sense of uncertainty Coryo felt even in his later years. It's not Lucy or Katniss specifically. It's the freedom that people crave in the face of authoritarian oppression, the freedom that survives and persists.

Collins Keeps the Real Outcome, the Director Hinted

'I'm not saying anything,' the director said cryptically, admitting that he knew Lucy's fate directly from Suzanne Collins. However, Francis Lawrence immediately retorted that he was only joking.

Regardless of whether he actually spoke to the author about Lucy Gray, her fate is intentionally left open in both the novel and the movie, so that everyone, including the actors, can draw their own interpretations and conclusions (and speculate about Katniss's descendance until the end of time).

Source: Josh Horowitz.