Greenlit: ‘The Hunger Games’ Director Francis Lawrence Will Return for the Franchise Prequel

Greenlit means a project is officially a go, so all you have to do is follow these leads to stay up to date. You never know where you’ll find an opportunity to land an audition!

“The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes”
Lionsgate is bringing us back to Panem. The studio has reportedly given the greenlight to “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” a “Hunger Games” franchise prequel based on Suzanne Collins’ forthcoming novel. Francis Lawrence, who directed the last three “Hunger Games” movies (“Catching Fire” and both parts of “Mockingjay”) will return to direct the new project, which will reportedly focus on young Coriolanus Snow before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem. No casting has been announced and production will not begin until after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has eased. Debra Zane was in charge of casting the original series and she could very well return with Lawrence. 

“Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark”
Paramount has not yet run out of scary stories. The production company is moving ahead with a sequel to 2019’s “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” and original director André Øvredal will return to helm the sequel. Also returning will be writers Dan and Kevin Hageman, who will write the screenplay based on a story by Guillermo del Toro, who produced the first movie. The logline and plot details for the sequel are currently being kept under wraps. Rich Delia was the casting director for the first film. 

“Don’t Worry, Darling”
Olivia Wilde is looking to follow up her highly acclaimed feature directorial debut “Booksmart” with some help from a trio of major stars. Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, and Shia LaBeouf will reportedly star in Wilde’s “Don’t Worry, Darling,” a psychological thriller for New Line. Wilde will also star in and produce the film, which will be set in an isolated, utopian community in the 1950s California desert and centers on a housewife (Pugh) who uncovers a disturbing truth about her seemingly perfect life. The film was eyeing a late spring production start but will now, of course, have to wait to see when things get back up and running. Katie Silberman, who is also producing, will write the script. No further casting has been announced at this point, and Allison Jones cast “Booksmart” so Wilde might be looking to someone more versed in the thriller genre to fill out the cast.

“The Shrink Next Door”
Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd are getting the band back together over at Apple with “The Shrink Next Door,” a new series that has been handed a straight-to-series order by the streamer. The limited series is based on the podcast of the same name and will see Ferrell and Rudd reunite on screen for the first time since “Anchorman 2.” The story follows the bizarre relationship between psychiatrist to the stars Dr. Ike Herschkopf (Rudd) and his longtime patient Marty Markowitz (Ferrell). Michael Showalter (“The Big Sick”) is on board to direct the eight episodes, with Georgia Pritchett (“Veep”) set to pen and showrun the dark comedy. Allison Jones could be a likely casting candidate for this one.

“TRE CNT”
A handful of major HBO alums are working on a new series for the cabler. Dwayne Johnson, Issa Rae, and Dany Garcia are reportedly set to executive produce “TRE CNT,” a half-hour series in development at HBO about the creation of a backyard wrestling promotion, according to Variety. The series will focus on Cassius Jones, a young dockworker and struggling pro-wrestler who uses his inherited life insurance money to start a hip-hop-centric backyard wrestling empire in Houston. Judah Miller will showrun the series from El Masri’s script with Johnson and Garcia executive producing with Hiram Garcia under their Seven Bucks Productions banner and Rae and Montrel McKay executive producing via their Issa Rae Productions banner. No production timeline has been set at this time.