Suzanne Collins’ Next Big Hit
How the Underland Chronicles Could Be Collins’ Next Hunger Games
Nearly a decade after the YA hit, The Hunger Games concluded with its third installment, Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins returned to Panem with the unexpected reveal of a prequel titled The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. One does not need to dig deep into modern culture to realize the rationale behind this release. While it should certainly be believed that Collins wrote the novel because she felt compelled to expand upon the history of the world of The Hunger Games, the move may have also be spurred on by the recent trend of revisiting and remaking existing franchises. Several films that are decades old have received recent unexpected sequels while others have been remade altogether (e.g. Disney’s live-action adaptations). Clearly, creators are using this demand for nostalgia in media to their advantage. While some recreations are uncalled for and exceptionally unnecessary, others are still on standby as fans rally for their return.
One such series may find success in today’s era of media consumption, considering that several stars have aligned to help bolster its success. Before Collins released the first novel in The Hunger Games Trilogy, she had just finished her pentalogy, The Underland Chronicles. While the series was praised by many, at the time of publication, it was overlooked by Hollywood in favor of the dystopian series we all know and love today. However, this was not without warrant as there were several factors that prevented the series from being able to be adequately adapted. Some may even argue that these barriers still exist today. Although, with quickly growing computer-generated imagery technology, many of these issues are resolved.
The Underland
Before discussing the issues, it is important to have an understanding of what makes the series so great. Aside from being written by a well-known author, the series offers a well-rounded cast, constantly evolving narrative, reasonable world building, drama, humor, sadness, questions of morality, and especially action. While the series was written for middle school audiences, it surprisingly has explicit and vivid descriptions of gore, including beheadings, intestines falling out, and flesh-eating mites. As such, a nostalgia filled adaptation could lean towards this angle, recognizing that the original readers of the series are now fully grown adults. Further, the trend of “aging-up” the demographic of remade children’s media is not new and is arguably on the rise. For example, we can look to Netflix’s recent hit, Fate: The Winx Saga, which originated as the children’s cartoon series, Winx Club. Coincidentally, Winx Club originally aired at the same time the Underland Chronicles were being released! The same group of kids that were watching one on television were also reading the other in bed.
But, what exactly is “the Underland?”
Suzanne Collins’ novel imagines a world underneath our own, deep below the Earth’s crust. This is the where the namesake arises. Here, Collins created an entire world below the surface, housing many creatures, levels of depth, and several different locations including a jungle filled with carnivorous plants, plains of rock and volcanic ash, a vast ocean full of sea creatures, and the beautiful city of Regalia, home to the humans of the Underland. The story follows Gregor, an eleven year old boy from our side of the crust, who falls down a vent in his apartment’s laundromat chasing after his little sister, Boots (real name Margaret), who accidentally fell down the vent chasing after a ball she was playing with. This occurs in chapter one.
The set-up of the story is quick, with our protagonist entering battle within the first few chapters of the first book. While initially unfamiliar with combat, Gregor develops into a fearsome and dangerous foe in the span of five books, and one year within the story itself. To be fair, the plot is forwarded by one of the most convenient and “middle-school”-ish trends: a prophecy depicting a chosen Warrior from above. While this plot device gets explored in the final novel, its involvement throughout the rest of the series seems to be a convenient call-to-action for most characters. What makes the story great, however, is the fact that Gregor actually does not believe in the prophecy for some time. Instead, he is intrinsically motivated by different factors throughout the series. While the prophecy foretold these factors’ appearance in the story, their presence and the real threat they pose constantly push Gregor forward. For an example with the least amount of spoilers, the first novel follows Gregor, his sister, and a quirky cast of Underland creatures as they go to fulfill the prophecy indicating that they must kill the king of the rats, Gorger. Although, for Gregor, his motivation lies in the early reveal that his father, whom has been missing for two years, has been kept imprisoned by the rats. While the prophecy gives structure to their plans, Gregor’s actual goal is to free his father and return home to his worrying family.
Troubles in Adaptation
The two largest issues in adapting the series arises from its setting. As the story is set deep in the Earth, light is scarce. Torches and flashlights are used throughout the story, but the descriptions given by Collins still indicate a dark, low-light setting. If the story were to be adapted, adjustments in the lighting would need to be made for the purpose of audience attraction and approval. If the audience is limited in their vision, or if the atmosphere of the film is dull and dark, then audiences will be less likely to watch it. However, the balance still needs to exist as narratively, lack of vision is a pivotal plot point in several of the books. One solution could be to give the audience more visibility while still limiting the characters’ vision. Further, in order to disperse some of the pitch black scenes (where all torches are submerged in water or the batteries on Gregor’s flashlight goes out) throughout the story, the series would need to be adapted into a television series rather than a singular film/series of films.
The second issue involves the characters themselves. The setting offered up a variety of different creatures, including mice, rats, bats, scorpions, moles, and most difficult to adapt, cockroaches… While it would seem nice to cut out some of the more… unsightly creatures, the unfortunate truth is that they, the cockroaches, bats, and rats specifically, play major roles throughout the story, being involved in the prophecy many times. However, as CGI technology has developed, the inclusion of these creatures may be less jarring than what previous technology would have been able to recreate. Still, not many would want to watch giant, yes giant, cockroaches on their screens.
The third issue is in regards to the main characters’ ages. Boots is two, Gregor is eleven, and his closest Underland friend, Luxa, is also eleven. While aging up these three would seem like the appropriate move, difficulties do still arise. For starters, Boots being two years old is incredibly significant as we are able to see her develop significantly within the year in the novels. However, the practicality of hiring a young enough actor is low. This is also true for Gregor and Luxa. They could possibly age Gregor up a year or two, and spread the series out between a few years instead of just one, but Gregor often gets depicted as naïve and childish. The screenplay writers would have to revise the dialogue in a way that aged up his character both physically and mentally, lest we get a situation a la The Lightning Thief, where characters are physically older in the films, but still act like their younger, novel selves.
All-in-all, Suzanne Collin’s The Underland Chronicles has the opportunity to succeed in a market heavily influenced by nostalgia and streaming culture. While barriers exist, an adaptation is not entirely lost. Again, look to the fact that Collins recently released a prequel novel for The Hunger Games. Collins is already thinking about her past works. This would be an extension of that same energy.
But what do you think? Should Collins revisit the Underland or should she let this unique piece of children’s media continue to fade into obscurity?
