‘The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ Ending Explained: What Happens to Lucy Gray & Coryo?

The ending of ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ will leave you with LOTS of questions. Here’s what we know about Lucy Gray and Coryo’s fates. Spoilers!

Everything is going fairly well for Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) and Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) — until things take a dark turn at the end of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. In the wake of Mayfair and Billy Taupe’s deaths, Lucy Gray decides to go on the run and head to District 13. Coriolanus decides that he’ll join her since he’s afraid that he’ll be imprisoned if the Peacekeepers find the gun he used to kill Mayfair.

Coriolanus and Lucy Gray stop at the cabin by the lake to hide out from the rain. In the floorboard, Coriolanus finds the gun that he used to kill Mayfair. Lucy Gray makes a comment about Coriolanus killing her for being the last witness to Mayfair’s murder. Lucy Gray also becomes suspicious when Coriolanus mentions that he’s killed three people. After a beat, Lucy Gray leaves to go find katniss plants.

When Lucy Gray doesn’t return, Coriolanus realizes that she’s run off. He heads into the woods screaming her name. He begins shooting into the trees. He hears a muffled scream and someone in the distance. However, Coriolanus never finds Lucy Gray. He’s left with nothing but mockingjays repeating the sound of her singing voice.

Does Lucy Gray Die?

Lucy Gray’s fate remains unclear. Like in Suzanne Collins’ book, Lucy Gray is never found after Coriolanus goes after her in the woods. Many believe she died in the woods, while others hope she somehow escaped to District 13 or elsewhere. Lucy Gray got her name from the William Wordsworth poem of the same name. In the poem, Lucy Gray goes missing and is never found.

Given Coriolanus’ paranoia, he could have imagined seeing Lucy Gray in the woods and shooting her. His mind could have played a trick on him during the heated moment, especially with the mockingjays involved. However, he does find one of her earrings and his mother’s scarf that he gave her, but she could have easily dropped them at any point when she ran.

What Happens to Coriolanus After Lucy Gray Disappears?

Coriolanus shakes off what happened with Lucy Gray and returns back to base. He believes he’s going to District 2 after being reassigned, but he’s told that he’s headed back to the Capitol. Dr. Gaul (Viola Davis) was impressed after Coriolanus exposed Sejanus’ treasonous plans using the jabberjay.

When Coriolanus returns to the Capitol, he’s awarded the Plinth Prize money and begins working exclusively under Dr. Gaul. As he starts this new chapter, Coriolanus makes sure to take care of Dean Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) once and for all.

Dean Highbottom reveals that he hates Coriolanus because of his father. Dean Highbottom had come up with the idea for the Hunger Games as a joke, but Coriolanus’ father stole the idea and helped make it a reality. Dean Highbottom never intended for this idea to ever come to fruition. The hatred between Dean Highbottom and Coriolanus runs on both sides and Coriolanus poisons Dean Highbottom’s morphling.

What Do Tigris’ Final Words to Coriolanus Mean?

Tigris and Coriolanus have a strong bond at the beginning of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Since they were kids, Tigris was always Coriolanus’ anchor amid the chaos and uncertainty in their lives. Early on in the film, Tigris stresses to Coriolanus that he doesn’t have to become his father. He can be a better man than his father ever was.

When Coriolanus returns to the Capitol a new man, Tigris tells him that he looks “just like” his father. The man in front of Tigris is not the Coryo she once knew. He’s unrecognizable to her after he lets his thirst for power and control consume him. That last line from Tigris plants the seed for Tigris and Coriolanus’ estrangement. Decades later when Katniss Everdeen enters the picture, Tigris sides with the Rebellion over her own family.