Olivia Rodrigo 'beyond excited' her song is in Hunger Games film

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Olivia Rodrigo: "Soooo beyond excited that I got the opportunity to write a song for The Hunger Games"
  • Author, Helen Bushby
  • Role, Entertainment reporter

US singer Olivia Rodrigo has revealed her delight at being part of the soundtrack for the much-anticipated Hunger Games prequel: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes.

The Drivers License singer wrote Can't Catch Me Now for the film, which stars Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage.

She said she was "soooo beyond excited" to be part of the franchise.

The film is set years before the first four, which starred Jennifer Lawrence.

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Rodrigo's announcement follows the release of her second studio album in September. Guts debuted at number one in the UK album chart, outselling the rest of the top 10 combined in its first week.

Directed by Francis Lawrence, the films sees British actor Blyth play the young Coriolanus Snow aged 18, who goes on to become the "tyrannical president of Panem". West Side Story actress Zegler stars as the games tribute Lucy Gray Baird.

Oscar winner Davis plays head gamemaker Dr Volumnia Gaul, while Game of Thrones star Dinklage plays the public face of the Hunger Games, Casca Highbottom.

Snow is assigned to mentor Baird in the upcoming Hunger Games, a brutal battle of life and death between young tributes from Panem's oppressed districts.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth in a scene from The Hunger Games: the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The franchise is based on Suzanne Collins' best-selling dystopian books, set in a post-apocalypse America, said to have been inspired by a combination of Greek myth and reality television, as well as Collins' own upbringing as the daughter of an air-force officer who served in Vietnam.

The novels' themes include freedom and resistance against oppression, and the prequel is set 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games, detailing the "Dark Days" that led to a failed rebellion in Panem.

The original films starred Jennifer Lawrence as the games tribute Katniss Everdeen and they took nearly $3bn (拢2.5bn) at the global box office.

Rodrigo's song will be released on 3 November and the film is released on 17 November.