Hunger Games prequel adds Games of Thrones star Peter Dinklage

Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage has been cast in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. 

The actor, who rose to fame as Tyrion Lannister in the hit HBO series, is set to play Casca Highbottom, dean of the Academy. Set long before Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen found herself fighting for her life on a global stage, the prequel centers on an 18-year Coriolanus Snow, the future President of Panem, as he finds himself mentoring impoverished District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird. 

After the latter commands attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow vows to use his knowledge of showmanship and political savvy to make a champion of Lucy – all while restoring his disgraced family's honor throughout the post-war Capitol. 

Tom Blyth is set to bring Snow to life, while West Side Story breakout Rachel Zegler will play Lucy. Euphoria star Hunter Schafer is also on board, and will appear as Tigris Snow, Coriolanus's cousin.

"Dean Highbottom is one of the most powerful people in Snow's life," said director Francis Lawrence. "As the austere and vindictive face of the games, he sets the rules that will determine every aspect of Coriolanus's fate. I'm thrilled that Peter will be bringing him to life."

"I cannot think of an actor more perfectly suited to inhabit the role of Highbottom," said Nina Jacobson, a producer on the film. "As the man credited with conceiving the Hunger Games and the Dean of the Academy,  Casca Highbottom is a character with secrets.  Peter's magnetism, intensity and dark humor will infuse him with the intelligence, depth and pathos that the role demands."

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to hit theaters on November 17, 2023. For more, check out our list of the best upcoming movies in 2022 and beyond.