Inside Josh Andres Rivera and Rachel Zegler's love story as they reunite for 'The Hunger Games' prequel

'The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes' stars Josh as Sejanus Plinth and Rachel as Lucy Gray Baird
Rachel Zegler and Josh Andrés Rachel Zegler to star in 'The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes' (Rachel Zegler/Instagram and Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Image)
Rachel Zegler and Josh Andrés Rachel Zegler to star in 'The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes' (Rachel Zegler/Instagram and Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Image)

We all have loved watching the novel-to-film adaptations of the ‘The Hunger Games’ universe. It’s been almost seven years ever since ‘The Hunger Games’ final movie got released in theatres. Avid Hunger Games fans can now rejoice as Lionsgate is bringing the highly awaited ‘The Hunger Games’ prequel. The film’s title is ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes’. The film is set to release globally in theatres on November 17, 2023.

Meanwhile, fans of dystopian fantasy films can check out similar films like ‘The Matrix’, ‘Harry Potter’ film series and so on.

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Directed by Francis Lawrence and produced by Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, the film stars Josh Andres Rivera as Sejanus Plinth and his 'West Side Story' co-star and real-life girlfriend Rachel Zegler. Rachel will be seen essaying the role of Lucy Gray Baird.

Josh and Rachel have been dating for quite a few months now. The actress took to her Instagram story to congratulate Josh and express how proud she is of her boyfriend. "Never been prouder of someone in my life lemme tell you" along with a red hearts emoji. 

Source: Rachel Zegler Instagram

Rachel and Josh’s love story started blooming on the sets of Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated film ‘West Side Story’, which was released in 2021. Although there were rumors of the two dating, Josh and Rachel did neither confirm nor deny the reports. They, however, made it official on Valentine’s Day this year when Rachel dropped a monochrome black and white selfie picture on Instagram and captioned it: ‘committing valen-crimes’.



 

Since then, fans of the couple have been treated to adorable pics of the lovebirds. On May 1, Rachel posted an adorable video of the couple together and wished her man Josh on his birthday. Her caption for the video post mentioned, “you are everything i love about this world wrapped into one incredible man. happy birthday, joshua. in this life, i like just doing laundry and taxes with you”. 



 



 

Meanwhile, the news of Josh joining the cast of ‘The Hunger Games’ prequel comes almost two weeks after the production house announced Rachel to be part of the film. The film’s official Instagram handle confirmed this news by posting a black and white picture of Josh Andres with the caption ‘Loyalties will be tested’. Josh Andrés Rivera has been cast as Sejanus Plinth in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – arriving in theaters November 2023’.



 

On the other hand, the official announcement of Rachel being part of the film was made on May 31, 2022. With a black and white picture of Rachel, the Instagram post caption read, “It’s written in the stars. Rachel Zegler has been cast as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – Arriving in theaters November 2023”.



 

The film, which is currently in the initial stage, has been adapted from a novel of the same name, which is written by the original trilogy author Suzanne Collins in May 2020. For fans who are unaware, this book covers the initial days of the Hunger Games universe.

While fans of the 'Hunger Games' series have been eagerly waiting for the prequel, the news of the reel-turned-real lovebirds Josh and Rachel starring in the upcoming film has certainly raised the curiosity level of fans a notch higher. 

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