10 Things To Expect From The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

9. More Gale

The marked absence of Gale in the first two Hunger Games films has often been lamented by fans of the books. Gale was always the foil to Peeta in the sense that he was intended to create a love triangle between them and Katniss but the films didn't participate in this as fully as in the books, apart from a couple of secretive kisses in Catching Fire. The film arguably doesn't give the audience as much understanding of the relationship between Katniss and Gale. This is not so much a fault as a necessity - both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire are nearly two and a half hours long so making it longer to just have more hunting scenes with Gale wouldn't work. In the book, too, we have the benefit of Katniss' point-of-view, something that is inevitably lost in films. However Mockingjay should, in theory, remedy this lack (and give us a lot more Liam Hemsworth-shaped eye candy). We're told at the end of Catching Fire that Gale saved everyone he could from District 12 when the bombs started dropping, so he is already elevated to hero status at the start of proceedings. With Peeta taken by the Capitol (more on that later) we get Katniss' attentions directed solely at Gale. Likewise, for the time-being at the start of Mockingjay, there are no reapings, further Hunger Games, or indeed victor's tours for Katniss to be taken to, so she and Gale get much more than a quick snog and goodbye for relationship development.