The director of Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is a prequel to The Hunger Games, promises a bloody fight in the new film masterpiece

Director Francis Lawrence has revealed that the upcoming film begins the "bloody battle" of The Hunger Games, and it is the first such experience for actress Rachel Zegler's, who plays the role of Lucy Gray Baird.

Here's What We Know

Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is expected to premiere later this year and will take viewers into a story that takes place before the events we know from the Hunger Games trilogy. However, while the film is set long before Coriolanus Snow becomes President Panem, don't expect it to be any less violent.

"The opening of the games we call 'the bloodbath'," Lawrence said. "And that's exactly what she had to jump into right away. She was leaving [the set] bruised pretty much every day, but those fighter qualities came in."

Although Lucy Gray Baird comes from the same neighbourhood as The Hunger Games' Kitniss Everdeen, Lawrence previously stated that fans should not expect similarities between the two characters. Specifically, he described Lucy Gray as the "anti-Kitnis".

"Katniss was an introvert and a survivor," Lawrence explained. "She was quite quiet and stoic, you could almost say [she was] asexual. Lucy Gray is the opposite. She wears her sexuality on her sleeve, [and] she really is a performer. She loves crowds.She knows how to play crowds and manipulate people."

In Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, long before becoming the tyrannical president of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for a fading family, once proud but fallen in the public eye, after the Capitol War. With the 10th anniversary Hunger Games looming, young Snow is ordered to be mentored by Lucy Grey Baird, a female contestant from impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Grey attracts the attention of all of Panem by singing defiantly during the draw ceremony, Snow begins to think he can turn the tide in their favour. Combining his instincts as a showman and his newly acquired political acumen, Snow and Lucy must figure out who is the songbird and who is the snake.

When We Can Expect It

Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be released in cinemas on November 17.