Peeta Takes Center Stage In This Hunger Games: Mockingjay TV Spot

By Brent McKnight | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

There’s been plenty of buildup towards The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1, the beginning of the end of the lucrative dystopian teen franchise, including trailers, photos, posters, multiple viral strategies, and so much more. Thus far, the marketing has focused, and rightly so, on heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence). This approach makes sense, she’s the center of the franchise, Suzanne Collins’ novels tell the story from her point of view, and Lawrence is one of the biggest movies stars in the world right now. But if you’ve ever sat back and said, “But what about Peeta, bro?” this new TV spot is for you.

We’re getting into some potentially spoiler-y territory for those of you who haven’t seen the last film, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Considering how much money that movie made, there aren’t that many of you out there, but still, better safe than sorry.

At the end of Catching Fire, as Katniss is rescued from the Hunger Games arena, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), part of the love triangle with Katniss and Gale (Liam Hemsworth), is left behind. Katniss assumes he’s dead as she hangs out in the newly rediscovered District 13, and you can add survivor’s guilt to the laundry list of heavy psychological issues she has in front of her to deal with. But when this interview airs on TV from the Capital, she learns her sometime boyfriend is alive, and this kicks off the push to rescue him that forms much of the story of Mockingjay.

Much of Mockingjay revolves around a public propaganda flame war between the forces of District 13 and those of the Capital, and as you can see, each side has a powerful weapon in their arsenal, one of the beloved, star-crossed lovers of the people fell in love with during the 74th Hunger Games. District 13’s President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) uses Katniss much in the same way that Donald Sutherland’s President Snow uses Peeta in the Capital. Coin is less overt about her intentions, however, and she may or may not be rooting for Katniss to die in combat. After all, a martyr is only a martyr if the person is dead. More concerned with winning at all costs, she doesn’t exactly have Katniss’ best interests in mind.

The Francis Lawrence-directed movie also stars Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, and Stanley Tucci. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1 opens everywhere on November 21, while Part 2 rounds out the series starting on November 20, 2015.