When news that beloved dystopian Hunger Games series was getting a prequel novel, fans were thrilled. After all, it had been years since the last of the Suzanne Collins trilogy had ended leaving devotees of the series with quite a few questions and heartbreaks. Welp, an excerpt from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is finally here and fans on Twitter are– well- unsurprisingly nonplussed. 

The upcoming science fiction novel by Suzanne Collins has already caught some fire for its content. 

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Due to be released on May 19, 2020, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will revisit the world of Panem sixty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games.”

Sounds all fun and good but fans are proving to be the exact opposite of tickled by news of the prequel which was confirmed back in October. At the time,  author Suzanne Collins said that “With this book, I wanted to explore the state of nature, who we are, and what we perceive is required for our survival,” she said in a press release. “The reconstruction period 10 years after the war, commonly referred to as the Dark Days — as the country of Panem struggles back to its feet — provides fertile ground for characters to grapple with these questions and thereby define their views of humanity.”

Set 64 years before the first Hunger Games novel, the book won’t see characters like Katniss Everdeen.

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In fact, as readers learned on Sunday, via the excerpt shared by Entertainment Weekly, the protagonist for the prequel ill be the villainous President Snow.

According to Entertainment Weekly, at the start of the book Coriolanus Snow is “a teenager born to privilege but searching for something more, a far cry from the man we know he will become. Here, he’s friendly. He’s charming. And, for now anyway, he’s a hero.”  In the excerpt shared by EW, Snow is seen becoming a mentor to a girl tribute from District 12,. 

Of course, the concept for the book has not boded well with fans on Twitter. 

Fans of the original series are expressing their outright contempt for the book which erases all of the work the original series did to inspire young female action heroes. Author Aiden Thomas of Cemetery Boys summed up the sentiments best saying  “I couldn’t be more disappointed by the next HUNGER GAMES being about f*cking President Snow and trying to paint him as a ‘misunderstood hero’ are you kidding me. the very last thing i’m interested in is humanizing a fascist dictator because he has a tragic past.”

Welp. That’s it for the prequel, here’s hoping that it all turns out way better than we had expected. Until then, at least we can ohh and ahh at the hope of one day seeing one of our very own represented in the series.

When Hollywood doesn’t have the courage to cast women or people of color in new films, they make reboots of older box office hits starring women or a more diverse cast. While we’d like to suggest that Hollywood simply make original films starring Latinos, especially since Latinos buy the most movie tickets than any other demographic groups in the US, but we also wouldn’t mind seeing a few reboots with a full Latino cast and not just playing token roles. The Hunger Games, a movie about children who grow up in extreme poverty who are taken from their families to a an opulent city that appears to be full of happiness and promise, but where they have to fight for their lives, is a good start, especially if Yalitza Aparicio played Katniss Everdeen.

Katniss Everdeen (originally played by Jennifer Lawrence)

Credit: The Hunger Games/Lionsgate

Little girls all over the world wanted to be like Katniss, played by Jennifer Lawrence, after The Hunger Games released in theaters. Vulnerable, tough, and caring, Katniss was the female hero we all needed in 2012, but as a young Xicanita, my niece wanted to be Katniss years before when she read all the books all the books in the The Hunger Games series written by Suzanne Collins

Katniss played by Yalitiza Aparicio

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Freshly nominated for an academy award, Yaltiza Aparicio who can rock a braid like no other, could easily inhabit the role of Katniss, who volunteers a tribute when her sister Primose’s name is drawn at the reaping, is a great shot with a bow and arrow, and is no nonsense about doing what’s right. We can’t wait to see Aparicio in a less quiet role, and playing the scrappy Katniss shouldn’t be a stretch for her at all.

Gale Hawthorne (originally played by Liam Hemsworth)

Credit: The Hunger Games/Lionsgate

Gale, played by Liam Hemsworth, is Katniss’ faithful friend who also, of course, has romantic feelings for her, which complicates matters when she allows to go along with the fabricated love story between her and Peeta to gather attention from viewers.

Gale played by Juan Pablo Di Paci

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Juan Pablo Di Paci’s smudge-print eyes alone are enough to get him the role, but he also resembles Liam Hemsworth, the square jaw, the thick head of hair, the movie-star good looks. His looks, however, won’t be enough to win Katniss over who ultimately winds up marrying Peeta. None of this will hurt, Di Paci, the Argentinian actor who played Fernando on Fuller House and who can also sing, dance, and direct.

Primrose Everdeen (originally played by Willow Shields)

Credit: The Hunger Games/Lionsgate

In order to protect her younger sister, Primrose, or Prim, Katniss volunteers to fight in her place. The sensitive Prim is spared fighting at a young age, but is still tormented by the fact that her older sister and stable member of the family must leave her side and go to the capital.

Primrose Everdeen played by Juliana Gamiz

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Up and coming child actor, Julianna Gamiz, would make a great Primrose, and hermana to Aparicio’s Katniss. A role in the Fierce by Mitú production of The Hunger Games could help Gamiz, who plays the adopted child of a white couple inInstant Family, broaden her roles.

Peeta Mellark (originally played by Josh Hutcherson)

Credit: The Hunger Games/Lionsgate

Peeta, also from District 12, is the male tribute chosen to fight in the Hunger Games with Katniss. As per the cruel Hunger Games’ rules Peeta and Katniss should have fought one another until the death, two teens from the same district, but they outsmarted the Capital with their manufactured love story.

Peeta Mellark played by Diego Boneta

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Diego Boneta from Rock of Ages and Pelé could play Peeta Mellark, whose name we’d have to change to Pedro Mellark because this is our reboot. Like Hemsworth and Di Paci, Boneta and Hutcherson look similar, Boneta the Mexican version.

Cinna (Originally played by Lenny Kravitz)

Credit: The Hunger Games/Lionsgate

Lenny Kravitz is great in the role of Cinna, Katniss’ stylist and confidant who makes it possible for the taciturn Katniss to be likable by the masses.

Cinna played by Oscar Issac

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With the kindly, wise Cinna, it’s all in the eyes, and as Oscar Isaac, certainly has the eyes. As much as we’d hate to replace Lenny Kravitz, especially when he wears leather pants, replacing Kravitz for the internet’s favorite boyfriend totally works for us.

Effie Trinket (originally played by Elizabeth Banks)

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Elizabeth Banks’ Effie Trinket is a great character, frivolous and self-absorbed but also a shrewd business woman and no nonsense.

Effie Trinket played by Salma Hayek

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Salma Hayek, who isn’t afraid to fully inhabit a role, would make a great Effie Trinket, she looks great in pink and pastel pallets and is great at no-nonsense characters. Like Hayek, Effie Trinket has penchant for fashion and having moved to Paris and married a François-Henri Pinault who heads a company that represents luxury designer clothes, Hayek has plenty to choose from.

Haymitch (originally played by Woody Harrelson)

Credit: The Hunger Games/Lionsgate

Mentor to Katniss and Peeta, a former winner of the games, Haymitch, now an alcoholic, seems to believe that it’s futile to train young people to kill when they have very little chance of winning. Clearly scarred by his own experiences, Haymitch vacillates between apathy and wisdom

Haymitch played by Eugenio Derbez

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Eugenio Derbez has been making Latinos laugh for years, but he can also play it straight like he does as the skeptical Enrique in the Latinx favorite Under The Same Moon. Enrique’s skepticism in Under the Same Moon, is not unlike that of Haymitch toward Katniss and Peeta and the whole barbaric process that is the annual Hunger Games.

President Snow (Originally played by Donald Sutherland)

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President Snow is a classic totalitarian who believes he knows better than his citizens and has no care for the will of the people. His primary concerns are power and his image, sound familiar?

President Snow played by President Trump

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Let’s face it, the current state for Latinos in the US, or those hoping make the US a home in order to escape extreme poverty, violence, and failed states, is pretty dystopian. As much as we hate his face, Trump would make a great President Snow, especially because Snow says this:  “Why do we have a winner? Hope. It is the only thing more powerful than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine as long as it’s contained.”

Portia (originally played by Latarsha Rose)

Credit: The Hunger Games/Lionsgate

In The Hunger Games, Portia is Peeta’s stylist. While she does not speak many lines in the first movie of the trilogy, the distinctive style of her make-up and costumes cause her to jump off the screen, so to play her we choose Tessa Thompson, duh.

Portia played by Tessa Thompson

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Tessa Thompson’s Afro-Latina beauty and smoldering eyes are perfect reasons to put her in the role of Portia. In our Latinx version, Portia will definitely rebel against The Capital by using her knowledge of the inner workings of the games to dress Peeta in items that will send messages of hope to District 12.