Lionsgate has released the Rachel Zegler rendition of “The Hanging Tree,” the iconic song originally sung by Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen in Mockingjay, Part 1. The song is available on all musical platforms, as well as on social media.
Zegler plays Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the traveling musician who is chosen to represent District 12 in The Hunger Games and originates the song that will one day become a rallying cry for the rebellion. Her rendition of the song is a little more polished than Katniss’ ever was, which makes sense, as she is musically trained. The emotions behind it are also different.
Lucy Gray Baird is, after all, set to compete in the 10th Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen will one day compete in the 74th and then 75th Hunger Games.
Though The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes might give more context, as far as we know from the original The Hunger Games book and movie, “The Hanging Tree” is a District 12 folk song sung from the perspective of a hanged man. It makes an appearance as Katniss Everdeen is asked to sing a song for the mockingjays and she remembers the old song her father used to sing to her.
The film follows Baird and her mentor – a young Coriolanus Snow, the future dictator of Panem, as he mentors, perhaps fall in love with Lucy and makes a decision about what is most important to him. No spoilers here, but the other four movies we watched are kind of a big hint in that regard.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes stars Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, and Jason Schwartzman among others. It is set to be released on November 17th.
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes being covered here wouldn’t exist.