9 Big Differences Between 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2' and the Novel (Spoilers!)
The final installment of the Hunger Games saga opens today, and like the previous films, Mockingjay — Part 2 is largely faithful to Suzanne Collins’ novels. However, those who have read the third book in Collins’ trilogy (which was divided into two films) will notice some missing characters, a few plot changes, and a vanishing pastry. Read on for the biggest changes we noticed between Mockingjay — Part 2 and the novel on which it’s based.
Warning: Many spoilers to follow
1. District 12 has shrunk.
Judging from the movie, you’d think that Everdeens, Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), and that darn cat were the only survivors from District 12. In the books, there are a few more. One notable absence is Delly, a schoolmate of Peeta’s who is assigned to help him regain control of his real memories after the Capitol “hijacks” his brain. (She’s specifically chosen because she will only remind him tangentially of Katniss, whom he has been brainwashed to believe is his enemy.) In the film, that duty goes to Prim (Willow Shields), who cannot help but remind him of Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence).
Another District 12 player from the books who’s been eliminated is Greasy Sae, the cook who once made edible meals out of the District’s meager food supply. She was never referenced by name in the earlier films, and doesn’t appear in this one at all; in the book, she’s a cook in District 13, and provides meals for Katniss when she finally returns home to District 12.
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2. District 8, however, gets a rising star.
Commander Paylor (Patina Miller) was in charge of the District 8 hospital that was bombed in Mockingjay — Part 1. In the book, she barely appears after that scene, though it is revealed at the end that Panem elects her President. The movie corrects for her absence by giving Paylor a commanding role in the Capitol invasion and the bombing of District 2. She’s the one who is most adamant about preserving human life in The Nut, the weapons stronghold that the rebels defeat using Gale’s avalanche trap. And prior to Katniss and her unit invading the Capitol, it is Paylor who explains the role and placement of the “pods” that President Snow (Donald Sutherland) has set as traps.
Watch a primer to catch up for ‘Mockingjay — Part 2’:
3. Snow is falling…slowly.
Like the previous films, Mockingjay — Part 2 dedicates a good chunk of screen time to showing President Snow as he makes plans in the Capitol. More than the book, the film illustrates President Snow’s failing health; he is constantly coughing up blood, and at one point he collapses, causing his minister of affairs Egeria (Sarita Choudhury, whose character was created for the Mockingjay films) to ask if she should call a doctor.
That said, the movie presents a new scene that demonstrates Snow’s ruthless use of power: While dining with his generals after the rebels storm District 2, Snow proposes a toast, and uses the opportunity to chastise Minister Antonius (another character created for the films) for diverting Peacekeepers into District 2. The president then watches calmly as Antonius chokes to death on his food or wine, which has presumably been poisoned by Snow. (In Part 1, Finnick revealed Snow’s longterm strategy of poisoning anyone who gets in his way.)
4. Finnick’s wedding has more plot, less cake.
In the book, “I kill Snow” is one of Katniss’s conditions for agreeing to be the Mockingjay — but it wasn’t included in that negotiation scene in Mockingjay —Part 1. Katniss finally resolves to kill the president herself in Part 2 after seeing firsthand the condition that Peeta is in after his weeks of torture at the Capitol. She announces her plan to Johanna Mason (Jena Malone) at Finnick and Annie’s wedding. Speaking of that wedding, it could have been even sweeter: In the book, their wedding cake is an elaborate concoction decorated by baker and accomplished icing artist Peeta, which proves to Katniss that some of his old self still remains.
5. There’s no training montage.
When President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) denies Katniss’ request to join the front lines at the Capitol, saying she’s much more valuable as a symbol than a fighter, Katniss stows away on a supply ship. In the book, Coin agrees to send Katniss into battle if she is declared fit for combat, and Katniss endures a punishing series of training sessions (alongside Johanna, who also wants to take down Snow). Training includes storming a replica Capitol block rigged with weapons and traps, and passing an interactive exam “designed to target every individual’s weakness.” Johanna fails the exam because she has flashbacks of being tortured at the Capitol, so Katniss heads to the front lines without her. (In the film, Johanna is still weak and addicted to painkillers, and doesn’t make an effort to join the fight.)
6. Peeta’s most disturbing memory has been erased.
Following his brain-hijacking at the Capitol, Peeta has difficulty remembering which of his memories are true and which were created by his torturers. In the book, he has a breakthrough moment when he shares a horrific memory of watching two Avoxes (citizens whose tongue the Capitol has cut out, rendering them mute) being tortured to death in front of him. Peeta knows the memory is real because there’s “nothing shiny about it,” a clue that the effects of the Capitol’s brainwashing are starting to fade. In the film, Peeta mentions the shiny-memory difference, but it isn’t tied to such a traumatic and vivid event.
Watch the ‘Mockingjay — Part 2’ trailer:
7. Katniss is spared her most brutal kill.
The horrors of war can turn even good people into monsters, as the book vividly illustrates by having Katniss shoot a civilian in cold blood. After half her unit is killed by lizard mutts, the remaining soldiers seek shelter in a Capitol apartment, where an unsuspecting occupant is eating a sausage. Seeing the rebels, the woman opens her mouth to scream for help — and Katniss “without hesitation” shoots her through the heart. In the film, the apartments the rebels invade are unoccupied, sparing them the horrible choice.
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8. Effie and Haymitch fill in for Plutarch — and that’s not all they’re doing.
Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) shows up briefly at the end of the book Mockingjay, but for the sake of the films, director Francis Lawrence and author Suzanne Collins made the fan-favorite character a District 13 refugee. Following the tragic death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played former Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee, the character of Effie took an even more significant role. The remaining scenes that Hoffman hadn’t filmed were largely given to Banks and Harrelson as Haymitch. In Part 1, Effie took Plutarch’s role in showing Effie her late costume designer Cinna’s sketches for the Mockingjay. In Part 2, Haymitch reads a farewell later from Plutarch to Katniss, replacing a speech intended for Plutarch. But Effie and Haymitch share more than Plutarch’s lines; at the end of Part 2, they share a goodbye kiss that hints at a romance for the first time.
9. The ending is rushed.
Strange to say, given that Mockingjay Part 2 is two-and-a-half hours long, but Katniss’s post-war life is given the short shrift. In the book, she’s forced to wait out her own trial, and then she heads back to District 12 a broken woman, until she and Peeta help each other heal. One beautiful detail from the novel — an illustrated book Katniss and Peeta make together to remember the dead — is omitted. And the coda, which introduces Katniss and Peeta’s two children, suggests that they started a family right away, whereas in the book, Katniss says she agonized about the decision for years.
