Prequels are a popular genre, especially in Hollywood. They build on an established IP and bring the coveted "brand recognition" and thus a guaranteed audience. Nevertheless, especially critics view these products with great reservations: all too often, they are unable to contribute anything relevant to the original story and suffer under the burden of the original narrative. How exciting can it really be to follow the origin story of the antagonist of the "Hunger Games" series, President Snow? The answer to the question "Why did the antagonist turn evil?" has driven countless more or less successful projects by now but all too often leads to excessively banal results. Did Darth Vader really become a more interesting character since we know he feared the death of his beloved? The subdued reactions to J.K. Rowling's origin story of Dumbledore also speak volumes. Accordingly, I was skeptical about Collins' new work, which - almost immediately with a film deal - sets out to explain why the villain of the series turned evil.
