'The Hunger Games' Director Reveals Decision He 'Got So Much S—' Over, Weighs-in on Franchise Future (Exclusive)

The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence has helmed every film of the franchise since the second movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Most recently he was back behind the camera for the series prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which is now available to own on digital and coming soon to home video. While the film franchise has been widely acclaimed by fans, Lawrence recently told PopCulture.com that there was one decision he and the producers "got so much s—" over that they swore never to do it again.

During a Zoom conversation with Lawrence, we asked if there had been any discussions about splitting The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes into two different movies, to which he replied, "No. No serious conversations at all." He added, "I will say the only time it ever got brought up was when [Hunger Games author] Suzanne Collins and I had a conversation, and it was before I had read it, so I had had a call where she said, 'There's something coming.'"

Lawrence went on to recall, "I remember I was in the backyard of my house and she and I were chatting and she wouldn't tell me much other than it took place 64 years before the first movie. There's one major crossover character. I figured out who that was pretty quickly, there was a big musical element to it, which I found intriguing, but she said, 'It's the longest book of the series.' She said, 'We should talk about it when you read it, but there may be an argument to split into two.' Instantly I just said, 'No, no, no, we can't do it.' I think she was just worried about the length."

Speaking very candidly, Lawrence then shared, "The truth is, I don't mind a long movie as long as it's moving. We got so much s— for splitting the Mocking Jay movies into two." He continued, "We got so much s—. The truth is I look back now and you look at Mocking Jay [Part 1] and it's probably the least favorite of everybody's movies in the series. I think part of it is because — and I understand it — part of it is that the story is very minimized. It has a clear dramatic question and all of that, but then you're ending on a cliffhanger. It's like an episode of television, but you're making everybody wait a year. I think it's frustrating."

Lawrence added, "Even in the end that you're getting four hours of the Mocking Jay book instead of two, two and a half, I think it was frustrating and I was just like, 'No, you know what? We'll just make one long movie. I don't care if it's long, but we're not splitting it and getting s— again.'"

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Finally, Lawrence also weighed in on the future of the Hunger Games franchise and shared his thoughts on whether there could ever be a movie or TV/streaming series that is not based on one of the books by Collins. "It is tricky. I would never say that it's an impossibility," he said. "I think that Nina [Jacobson], the producer, and I have both said that we would never do anything that wasn't created by Suzanne."

He continued, "That doesn't mean it has to be a book, but part of what attracts us is that Suzanne writes when she finds something she thinks is relevant thematically, and she bases everything on that. And you always have this thematic foundation to these stories. The truth is, if you just run off and decide, 'Oh, we're going to do the Haymitch Games,' for the sake of the Haymitch Games, because people like the character, it doesn't have the thematic relevance that grounds it in the world and gives it a reason to exist."

Following a short pause, Lawrence added, "Having said that, if she came up with an idea for, I don't know, a limited series or something that had a reason to exist, that's a possibility, but she'd have to come up with it." 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is available now on digital platforms and will be coming to 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on Feb. 13. Pre-order your copy by clicking here.