The Big Picture
- The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a timely prequel that explores the rise of President Snow, providing a brilliant critique of capitalism, greed, and authoritarianism.
- While the prequel is highly anticipated, fans are left wondering why there hasn’t been a movie dedicated to Haymitch, the cantankerous mentor with a complex backstory that includes trauma, survival, and rebellion.
- Haymitch’s intelligence and cunning were evident from his victory in the Hunger Games, and his character has the potential to provide a compelling and emotional spin-off that delves into his relationships, experiences, and role in toppling the Capitol.
The highly-anticipated The Hunger Games prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes starring Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Viola Davis, and Hunter Schafer, returns the world to a Panem mood like it was 2012 again. Based on the novel of the same name by The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins, the movie is set 65 years before the rise of heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and charts the backstory of trilogy antagonist President Coriolanus Snow, masterfully realized in the original film trilogy by Donald Sutherland and now by Tom Blyth as Songbirds‘ younger, not-yet sadistic version of the character.
As the authorial mind behind one of the pinnacles of 21st-century YA fiction, Collins’ prequel is as timely and brilliant an evisceration of capitalism, greed, and authoritarianism as ever before. There’s also much to be said about how creators and audiences are continuously drawn to villainous characters. The psychological fascination makes for unilaterally great drama… just take the astounding cultural response to Succession. But although Songbirds looks like a welcome return to Lionsgate’s record-breaking franchise, especially with the credentials of three-time The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence at the helm — Mr. Fancy Pants White Roses had his time in the sun. If prequels about problematic favorites are a go, why not explore the story of a certain cantankerous mentor-turned-orchestrator of a nationwide rebellion? In short: where’s our Haymitch movie?
‘The Hunger Games’ Teases Haymitch’s Difficult Upbringing
Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) won hearts the moment his misanthropic, scornful quips across a fancy dinner table rivaled the sharpness of the cutlery. He’s the last person to share personal details, but known facts about Haymitch are that he’s bristly, cunning, and formidable. His crackling dry wit and hardened exterior do a passable but ultimately poor job of hiding an extremely vulnerable interior. Like every survivor of the Hunger Games, Haymitch carries lasting trauma. At sixteen years old, he overcame physically stronger opponents to win his Games through strategic intelligence and by breaking the rules. As a mentor, he was forced to spend decades watching every District 12 tribute die, a fact giving his initial apathy for Katniss and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) some emotional credence.
No proper coping mechanisms exist in Panem society, so Haymitch turned to alcoholism to numb the pain of his time in the arena and the loss of his loved ones. Accompanying his drinking was self-isolation, despair, and likely some form of depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. The things that aren’t known about Haymitch are enough to, well, fill a book or a movie. What defined his life as a child of the Seam, District 12’s most impoverished area? What were his relationships like with his mother, brother, and girlfriend? What happened to his father? Was Haymitch the primary male caregiver for his family? With no District 12 winners besides the vanished Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), who mentored Haymitch in the Hunger Games? His past is a cocktail of potential for Suzanne Collins to dramatize.
Katniss Learns About Survival by Watching Haymitch
The Hunger Games movies don’t include details about Haymitch’s time as a tribute, but Katniss and Peeta watch his Games as research for their upcoming Quarter Quell tournament in the Catching Fire novel. Haymitch was reaped as one of four tributes for the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the second Quarter Quell. This set of Games selected four children from each District for a total of forty-eight tributes, making Haymitch’s survival even more impressive. During footage of the reaping, Katniss reluctantly describes Haymitch as “something of a looker. His hair dark and curly, those gray Seam eyes bright and, even then, dangerous.”
Katniss later describes him as “snarky, arrogant, [and] indifferent” during his interview with host Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), who asks Haymitch his opinion about the increased number of competitors. Haymitch wickedly replies, “I don’t see that it makes much difference. They’ll still be one hundred percent as stupid as usual, so I figure my odds are roughly the same.”
Haymitch Outsmarted President Snow and Left Society
Clearly, Haymitch’s droll and shrewd disposition is a lifelong trait, and those instincts prove vital to his success. When most of the tributes are distracted by the arena’s deceptive beauty, Haymitch seizes the advantage by leaping into the Cornucopia for his choice of weapons and supplies before immediately running into the woods. Despite having a slimmer build, Haymitch demonstrates “remarkable speed” by quickly killing two Career tributes in a three-on-one fight. Maysilee Donner, a female competitor from District 12, saves Haymitch from the third Career, and the two form a temporary alliance.
Likewise indicative of his intelligence is Haymitch’s determination to reach the edge of the arena in the Hunger Games, which is surrounded by a force field. He discovers that items ricochet off the force field and bounce directly back, a fact unknown to the other competitors. When only Haymitch and a girl from District 1 remain, a severely wounded Haymitch dupes her into throwing her ax with the invisible force field positioned behind him. Haymitch ducks and the ax rebounds off the wall and kills the other tribute. In the present day, Katniss is delighted by the revelation that she and Haymitch are cut from the same cloth of causing the Capitol “so much trouble.”
Two weeks after Haymitch’s victory, President Snow ordered Haymitch’s family and his girlfriend to be murdered as punishment for outsmarting the Capitol by using the force field against them. Snow then held Haymitch up as a warning to subsequent winners. See what happens if you don’t obey orders? For the next 24 years, Haymitch withdrew from society, drowned his grief in alcohol, and slept with a knife in his hand: all indicators of permanent trauma.
Haymitch Is the Unsung Hero in ‘The Hunger Games’
In 2011, a short fan film from the company MainstreamPro entitled The Second Quarter Quell transferred Haymitch’s backstory to the screen. The 12-minute production is faithful to a fault, incorporating his snarky remark about competitor stupidity over the opening credits and depicting Haymitch’s time in the arena from the fight with the three Careers through to his victory. It’s easy to springboard off this impressive work and envision a feature film, which naturally has time to incorporate minute details, dive into the character’s pathos, and flesh out the Quarter Quell into longer sequences.
Comparative to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which chronicles Snow’s corruption from an eighteen-year-old mentor with good intentions into Panem’s merciless, autocratic dictator, a Haymitch prequel has fewer events to cover but just as much meaty material in moral reverse. Haymitch spent his life struggling to survive in some form and has always wielded a devious, sometimes unforgiving cleverness. He knows how to manipulate people and uses that skill as a weapon to make himself seem innocuous before using it to selflessly keep Katniss and Peeta alive. Everything in Haymitch’s life led to his pivotal role in toppling the Capitol: his childhood in the Seam, his relationships, and the lasting aftermath of the Games upon his psyche. Something of equivalent length to the first The Hunger Games book or film would make for a tight story with buckets of emotional heft.
Many rightly remember the man for his biting sarcasm, but between Haymitch’s kindness toward Maysilee Donner during their Games and his obvious affection for Katniss and Peeta, Haymitch has always been a man who loves deeply despite his inability to verbally express his feelings. Collins doesn’t reveal exactly when Haymitch joins the rebellion, but there’s no doubt that District 12’s final two tributes knocked down the walls around his pained heart and moved him to action. His reclusive personality and poor (but understandable) coping mechanisms make him flawed but the opposite of unheroic, much like the Mockingjay herself. A flawed hero forged through tragedy who helped dismantle totalitarian powers? Yes, please. Doesn’t a Haymitch spin-off just feel right?
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is in theaters November 17.
