Do you need to watch The Hunger Games movies before the prequel?

The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballard of Songbirds and Snakes, is now out in theaters. Should you watch the previous movies first?

The Ballard of Songbirds and Snakes takes us to the 10th Hunger Games. It’s time to see the games that really turned Snow into the character we know him as when he’s President of Panem.

Of course, before you go into any movie within a franchise, you’ll want to know if you need to catch up on previous ones. Do you need to watch the four original Hunger Games movies first? Would it be worth it to rewatch them?

If you do decide that you want to, they’re not currently streaming on Prime Video. However, you can buy or rent all four on Amazon Instant Video.

You don’t need to watch The Hunger Games movies first

The Ballard of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel story to the original movies. It’s based on the novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins and is set decades before Katniss Everdeen and her friends were even thoughts.

So, there’s no real need to watch the original movies. There may be a few characters who are mentioned from the original four movies, especially the older characters in the story, but this isn’t about them. It’s about the new characters going into the 10th Hunger Games.

However, there is a chance that there will be some Easter eggs. If you watch the original movies and carefully focus on Snow’s words, you may see some Easter eggs of those moments in the prequel story. It could also be worth reading the books again for more information about who Snow is.

The Ballard of Songbirds and Snakes is currently out in theaters.