Rachel Zegler is currently hard at work leading the West End revival of Evita in London, but as America celebrates Independence Day on Friday, July 4 the actress took some time to look back on her Hunger Games experience on 2023’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Hardcore fans of Suzanne Collins’ books will get it!
About a year and a half ago, Rachel Zegler played Lucy Gray Baird, a District 12 tribute and singer in the Covey who wins the 10th Hunger Games after a young Coriolanus Snow is her mentor. But do you know why the actress is celebrating being in one of the Hunger Games movies on July 4th specifically? First, check out her post from her Instagram stories:
Zegler wrote “it’s July 4… iykyk”, with the acronym meaning “if you know, you know.” She decided to look back on her time on Hunger Games on the American holiday because Reaping Day in Panem actually occurs on July 4th every year. In the dystopian world, a male and female tribute are chosen at random from each of the republic’s districts to compete in the Hunger Games.
In the science fiction series, Panem is supposedly North America after the Earth was devastated by climate change and global nuclear war, leading to the collapse of modern civilization. Eventually, a new nation was founded called Panem, and it was segmented into thirteen districts, with each being responsible for producing different goods of a specific industry. It is run under a totalitarian dictatorship led by President Snow.
The Hunger Games is thought of as a patriotic duty by each district to all who take part in it, even if it means children are slaughtered on live television. The science fiction series definitely imagines a dark future for what July 4th could look like. But since the day is the only important date one can really surmise from the franchise, Zegler took the opportunity to share BTS photos like this one with Tom Blyth. It's much more goofy than the subject matter of the series itself.
Today would be a good day to rewatch The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. And if you want to watch the original films with Jennifer Lawrence, they recently became available to stream on HBO Max!
As far as the world of Panem goes, there’s currently another Hunger Games novel that's part of the upcoming book-to-screen adaptations. Sunrise on the Reaping, which focuses on Haymitch’s Hunger Games has cast a slew of great actors like Ralph Fiennes, Elle Fanning, Kieran Culkin and Jesse Plemons. Oh, and in the book, we learn that Reaping Day (aka July 4) is actually Haymitch’s birthday, too!
Rachel Zegler’s role in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was definitely one for the books, so it’s a great day for the actress to highlight the role and for the rest of us to be grateful the Hunger Games isn’t an actual tradition on July 4. Rather, we can enjoy watching fireworks and eating hot dogs instead.
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