“The Hunger Games” film franchise is returning to the big screen after an eight-year hiatus with the upcoming release of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” a prequel film starring Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird and Tom Blyth as a young Coriolanus Snow. With one prequel down, Entertainment Weekly asked franchise director Francis Lawrence (he’s helmed every installment except the first) and producer Nina Jacobson about making more prequel movies, perhaps ones centered on fan favorite characters such as Finnick (Sam Claflin) and Haymitch (Woody Harrelson). Their answers were similar: Only if author Suzanne Collins lays the groundwork.

“I liked being part of the series originally because the stories are great,” Lawrence said. “But what was always gratifying was that they were always about something. Suzanne [Collins] always writes from a thematic foundation. The original ones were all about the consequences of war. [‘Songbirds and Snakes’ is] about the state of nature. That’s what makes them feel rich and not superficial, and I think it’s why they’ve stood the test of time, honestly.”

Lawrence continued, “If Suzanne has another thematic idea that she feels fits into the world of Panem — whether that’s with new people [or] familiar characters [like] Finnick, Haymitch, whoever — I’d be really interested in looking at it and being a part of it. But I don’t have any pull of just going, ‘I would love to do Finnick’s games.’ He’s a great character, but what’s the thematic underpinnings that make it worth telling and relevant?”

“If she has something to say, I want to hear it,” Jacobson added about Collins. “I’m fascinated by her perspective. I will always want to follow her lead.”

It seems Lawrence and Jacobson have no intention of creating new “Hunger Games” on their owns. Suzanne Collins is the architect of the franchise and will remain so as long as they are involved in bringing Panem to the screen. The duo originally were interested after the 2015 release of “Mockingjay – Part 2” in making a prequel film about the origins of the games, but then Collins delivered her 2020 prequel novel about Lucy and Snow. Jacobson and Lawrence pivoted to bring that story to the big screen instead.

Any prequel film will not star franchise veteran Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, although the Oscar winner did tell Variety earlier this year that she’d be up for a “Hunger Games” sequel.

“Oh, my God – totally!” Jennifer Lawrence said when asked about more Katniss. “If Katniss ever could ever come back into my life, 100 percent.”

“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” opens in theaters Nov. 17 from Lionsgate

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