You probably remember her. Or at least, you remember the way she looked. In Mockingjay – Part 2, a woman appears with a face so surgically altered to look like a feline that it’s almost hard to track the human underneath. That was Tigris. For years, she was just this weird, fringe character—a disgraced stylist living in a basement who hated President Snow. But then Suzanne Collins dropped The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and everything changed. We found out she wasn't just some random rebel sympathizer. She was Coriolanus Snow’s cousin. His "Tiger."
The question of who plays Tigris in The Hunger Games actually has two very different answers depending on which part of the timeline you’re looking at. In the original films, Tigris was a silent, visual spectacle. In the prequel, she became the emotional backbone of the story.
The Prequel Transformation: Hunter Schafer
When Lionsgate announced they were making The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, fans were obsessed with the casting of Tigris. She’s the moral compass. She’s the one trying to keep "Coryo" from turning into the monster we know he becomes. Hunter Schafer got the call. Honestly, it was a stroke of genius.
Schafer, who most people know from her breakout role as Jules in HBO’s Euphoria, brought a specific kind of ethereal, fragile strength to the role. She’s tall, she’s striking, and she has this way of looking at Tom Blyth (who plays the young Snow) with a mix of unconditional love and growing horror. In the prequel, Tigris isn't the cat-like creature yet. She’s a struggling fashion student trying to keep her family from starving in a post-war Capitol.
She's the heart. Truly.
The contrast between Schafer’s Tigris and the version we see later is brutal. In the prequel, she makes her own clothes and fixes her cousin’s shirts with scraps. She believes in him. But if you watch her performance closely, you can see the cracks starting to form. Every time Snow chooses power over humanity, Schafer plays it with this subtle, heartbreaking flinch. It’s a masterclass in "show, don't tell." She doesn't need a five-minute monologue to tell us she's disappointed; she just looks at him, and you feel the bridge burning.
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The Original Vision: Eugenie Bondurant
Flash back to 2015. Mockingjay – Part 2 is hitting theaters. Katniss and her "Star Squad" are hiding in the Capitol, and they duck into a high-end fur shop. Out comes this woman who looks like a tiger. That was Eugenie Bondurant.
Bondurant is an interesting actress. She’s almost six feet tall and has these incredibly sharp, angular features that make her perfect for "otherworldly" roles. Unlike Schafer, she didn't have much dialogue. She didn't need it. Her job was to embody the physical toll of Capitol excess and the quiet bitterness of someone Snow had discarded like trash.
People often forget that at the time, we didn't know Tigris was Snow’s cousin. We just knew she was a former stylist who had been "let go" because she wasn't "pretty" enough anymore. Bondurant played that bitterness perfectly. She was icy but helpful. It’s wild to think that when Bondurant was cast, the backstory we have now didn't even exist in print. She had to create that character's history out of thin air, or at least out of the brief mentions in the final book.
Two Actresses, One Tragedy
It’s rare to see two actresses play the same character in a way that feels so cohesive despite the massive time jump. You’ve got Schafer playing the hope and Bondurant playing the aftermath.
If you look at the timeline:
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- 10th Hunger Games: Hunter Schafer plays Tigris as a young, empathetic protector.
- Between the Eras: Tigris becomes a lead stylist for the Games, presumably under Snow’s rise.
- The Fallout: She undergoes extreme surgeries to look like a cat and is eventually fired by her own cousin.
- 74th/75th Hunger Games: She’s living in the shadows, running her shop.
- The Rebellion: Eugenie Bondurant plays her as the woman who helps the rebels end Snow’s reign.
It’s a long, sad arc. Honestly, Tigris is probably the most tragic figure in the whole franchise because she saw the monster being born and couldn't stop it. She loved him. That’s the kicker.
Why the Casting Matters So Much
The Hunger Games has always been about the "spectacle." But Tigris represents what happens when the spectacle eats its own.
Casting Hunter Schafer was important because she has a background in fashion herself. She worked as a model for brands like Prada and Dior before she ever stepped onto a film set. She gets the world Tigris inhabits. She understands the armor of a well-made coat. In interviews, Schafer has talked about how she used her own relationship with clothing to inform how Tigris moves. It’s not just "costume" to her; it’s survival.
On the other hand, Eugenie Bondurant had to deal with hours of prosthetic makeup. Every whisker, every tattoo, every bit of tiger-skin texture had to be applied. It’s a testament to her acting that she managed to project a soul through all that silicone and paint. You see the human eyes in the cat face. That’s what makes the scene in the basement so tense. Katniss doesn't know if she can trust this "thing," but she sees the humanity in her.
What Fans Get Wrong About Tigris
There is a common misconception that Tigris turned herself into a cat because she was crazy or just obsessed with fashion. That's not really it. If you look at the subtext of the books and the way the actresses play her, the surgeries feel more like a protest. Or a mask.
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In the Capitol, beauty is a currency. By turning herself into something "grotesque" by Snow’s increasingly rigid standards, she was opting out of his world. She was making herself unmarketable. Some fans even speculate she did it so Snow would stop looking at her, or to hide the family resemblance she grew to hate.
The Evolution of the Character
- The Protector: She keeps the Snow family afloat during the dark days.
- The Stylist: She reaches the height of Capitol fame.
- The Outcast: She is discarded by the very system her cousin built.
- The Rebel: She provides the safe house that allows Katniss to reach Snow’s mansion.
If you haven't rewatched Mockingjay – Part 2 after seeing The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, you really should. It hits different. When Bondurant’s Tigris says she wants to kill Snow, it’s not just political. It’s personal. It’s decades of family betrayal boiling over.
Actionable Steps for Fans
If you're looking to dive deeper into the world of Tigris and the actors who brought her to life, there are a few things you can do right now to get the full picture.
Watch the "Behind the Scenes" of Ballad
Check out the bonus features on the digital release. There is a specific segment on the costume design for Tigris. You can see how Hunter Schafer collaborated with Colleen Atwood (the legendary costume designer) to make sure her outfits felt like something a starving but brilliant designer would actually make.
Read the Tigris Chapters in Mockingjay
Go back to the source material. Suzanne Collins writes Tigris with a very specific, raspy voice. When you read those chapters again, try to layer Hunter Schafer’s face over Eugenie Bondurant’s situation. It makes the ending of the series much more poignant.
Follow the Actresses’ Careers
If you liked Hunter Schafer’s performance, she’s moving into more lead roles in films like Cuckoo. Eugenie Bondurant continues to do incredible character work in indie films and teaches acting as well.
The story of Tigris is one of the most complete loops in the Hunger Games universe. We saw where she started, we saw where she ended, and thanks to two very talented women, we got to see the soul behind the stripes.