Rachel Zegler to play Lucy Gray Baird in 'Hunger Games' prequel

May 31 (UPI) -- Rachel Zegler has joined the cast of The Hunger Games prequel.

The 21-year-old actress will star with Tom Blyth in the new film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is based on the Suzanne Collins novel of the same name, which takes place about 64 years before her book The Hunger Games.

The prequel follows an 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Blyth), who becomes the tyrannical president of Panem and villain in the Hunger Games film series. Donald Sutherland played Snow in the Hunger Games movies.

In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Zegler will play Lucy Gray Baird, a young woman from the impoverished District 12 who is selected for the Hunger Games and is assigned Snow as her mentor.

Zegler is known for playing Maria in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake.

"Like everybody, I first saw Rachel Zegler in West Side Story, and like everybody, I knew I was watching a star who would command the screen for a generation," director Francis Lawrence said in a statement.

"Lucy Gray is a perfect match for her as an actress: the character is bold, independent, and defiant, but also vulnerable, emotional, and loving," Lawrence added. "Rachel will make this character unforgettable."

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will open in theaters in November 2023.