Peter Dinklage Says Viewers Don’t Have to Watch the ‘Hunger Games’ to Understand the Prequel

Peter Dinklage thinks the Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is for everyone, whether they’re fans of the original film franchise or not.

The Game of Thrones star plays Casca Highbottom in the prequel. He is the Dean of the Academy in the Capitol, who unintentionally creates the Hunger Games and lives to regret it.

“It’s what we call in the trades a prequel,” Dinklage said on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. “So you don’t need to see the other movies — or perhaps it will inspire you to see the films already made — but he created it, and now the genie’s out of the bottle, and he realizes what he’s done is horrible. So, he likes to intoxicate himself to cover the pain up.”

The Emmy winner shared that the outrageous fashion the Hunger Games became known for in the first few films still applies to the prequel but with a “Cold War” twist. He also said they filmed in Berlin, where they used a lot of the old architecture for their backgrounds.

“I used to party. I don’t party much anymore,” Dinklage admitted when Colbert asked if he partied while on location. “[Instead,] I found this park. I would go on my days off whenever the young people were probably partying, and I would train this bird.”

The prequel takes place 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games, which starred Jennifer Lawrence. It follows Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) — decades before he becomes the tyrannical president from the original film franchise — when he gets assigned to mentor District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). Together, the two race against time to reveal who is a songbird and who is a snake.

Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is in theaters now.