Prequel to »Hunger Games« tetralogy: Viola Davis plays villain in new »Panem« film

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Actress Davis:

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IMAGO/Mickael Chavet / IMAGO/ZUMA Wire

Oscar winner Viola Davis slips into the villain role in the new film set in the Hunger Games universe.

The 57-year-old takes on the role of the playmaker (English: »Gamemaker«) Doctor Volumnia Gaul in the planned fantasy saga »The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes«, as the actress announced on Instagram.

The film adaptation of the Panem novel by Suzanne Collins (German title »The Hunger Games - The Song of Birds and Snakes«) is scheduled to hit cinemas in November 2023.

"Game of Thrones" star Peter Dinklage, 53, and actor Jason Schwartzman, 42, ("Marie Antoinette") will also be seen in the film.

Francis Lawrence is directing.

So far, four films have been made from the original book trilogy, which grossed around three billion dollars worldwide between 2012 and 2015.

The girl Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), who lives in the fictional world called Panem, is forced by a totalitarian regime under the power-hungry leader Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) to fight to the death against youths from other districts.

Set 64 years before these events, the new dystopian sci-fi novel revolves around young Snow (Tom Blyth) who mentor young District 12 fighter Lucy (Rachel Zegler) in the 10th »Hunger Games« should stand.

feb/dpa