Ever since Squid Game exploded onto the scene in September 2021, becoming Netflix’s most watched series launch of all time, feverish anticipation has been building for the next chapter in writer/director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s thrilling parable exploring the depths of human nature when pushed to lethal extremes. Now after over a year of mystery, we finally have details on Squid Game season two.
Hwang Dong-hyuk has confirmed the second season will arrive on Netflix in 2024. While an exact release date is still under wraps, fans can expect the next installment to pick up right where season one left off in the deadly tournament’s emotionally charged aftermath.
Star Lee Jung-jae is set to reprise his Emmy-winning role as Seong Gi-hun, the struggling chauffeur who competed in the shadowy contest for a massive cash prize after gambling debts left him desperate. After winning the games, Gi-hun discovered the tournament’s VIP masterminds who bet on the carnage. He subsequently turned down a flight to see his daughter, intent on getting vengeance instead.
Squid Game Season 2 Release Date
Season two will track Gi-hun infiltrating the organization behind the games to bring them down once and for all. But already confirmed to return as well is his childhood friend and game creator Oh Il-nam, played by O Yeong-su, who was shockingly unveiled as the contest’s secret host and puppet master. A game of cat and mouse between Gi-hun and Il-nam seems inevitable.
Hwang has also disclosed that the new season will feature boyfriend Cho Sang-woo, played by Park Hae-soo. Despite seemingly dying by suicide after losing to Gi-hun in Squid Game season one’s final round, Sang-woo will factor prominently into the storyline going forward in ways that are being kept tightly under wraps for now.
Rounding out the list of confirmed returning stars are Wi Ha-jun as undercover cop Jun-ho, Heo Sung-tae as the games’ unsettling recruiter, and model HoYeon Jung as tough player Sae-byeok. What roles they’ll play as Gi-hun wages a personal war against those running the barbaric tournament full of hidden secrets remains to be seen.
But with season two in the works, the writer/director promises a more expansive exploration of this complex world, with unexpected betrayals and unstable alliances certain to fuel the adrenaline. Will Gi-hun surrender more of his soul to avenge the loss and cruelty suffered by himself and hundreds of other victims in the games? Or can he take down those evil masterminds without becoming a monster himself? The countdown to the battle is on to 2024
| Name | Squid Game |
|---|---|
| Genre | Thriller, drama |
| Creator | Hwang Dong-hyuk |
| Directed by | Hwang Dong-hyuk |
| Starring | Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Original release | September 17, 2021 – present |
| Production Company | Siren Pictures |
| Setting | Seoul, South Korea |
| Plot | Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits — with deadly high stakes. |
Is Squid Game Season 2 Out?
Ever since the dystopian Korean drama Squid Game took the world by storm when it premiered on Netflix in September 2021, passionate fans across the globe have been desperately awaiting news on a second season. Now, writer/director Hwang Dong-hyuk has finally announced the next installment is coming in 2024.
Given the runaway success of season one, which became Netflix’s most viewed series launch ever with 1.65 billion hours streamed in the first 28 days, a second round in the deadly tournament was inevitable. But creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has taken his time formulating the next chapter in this parable exploring the darkness in human nature when cash-strapped contestants play lethal children’s games for a huge cash prize.
Star Lee Jung-jae, who won both a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance as down-on-his-luck protagonist Seong Gi-hun, will anchor season two. The finale’s emotional cliffhanger saw Gi-hun walk away from boarding a flight to see his daughter in order to bring down the shadowy orchestrators behind the barbaric games. Now fans will witness Gi-hun’s personal war waging vengeance while navigating complex alliances and finding his own morality tested.
Multiple characters presumed dead have also been confirmed as returning, including his ill-fated childhood friend Cho Sang-woo played by Park Hae-soo as well as the elderly Oh Il-nam portrayed by O Yeong-su, who shockingly was unveiled as the contest’s secret host and mastermind. The next installment promises plenty of twists in Gi-hun’s drive for payback.
Why Is Squid Game Rated 18?
Besides the tale of Gi-hun’s crusade being expanded, Hwang plans into the tournament’s inner workings plus the emotionally complex stories of other recurring characters like cop Jun-ho, the recruiter, and more. He teases season two will unveil shocking new secrets behind the games’ masked VIP masterminds who previous winners failed to take down.
The first season racked up over 42 million household views in its first month per Netflix and was seen by over 142 million member households to date. But controversy also erupted in some regions over the show’s intense violence.
While acclaimed by most critics for holding a mirror to the real-world socioeconomic desperation that could drive someone to risk it all on such a deadly gamble, the show has indeed been polarized by some calling it senselessly gruesome. However, supporters have praised the layered messaging condemning economic inequality woven subtly between adrenaline-spiking contests and ethical dilemmas.
Hwang promises a more expansive resonance in season two with commentary on problems extensions beyond just South Korea’s landscape. And while he again warns of extreme violence on the horizon, perhaps Gi-hun can transform the vile tournament internally before razing it altogether.
But with season two likely featureerating Squid Game’s most unpredictably dangerous version yet full of fresh secrets waiting to ensnare characters and viewers alike, the only guarantee is a more unsettling round of psychological warfare where the threat constantly looms of meeting your maker at the slap of a hand. The games have only just begun anew.
Is Squid Game A True Game?
While the fictional Netflix drama Squid Game depicts a series of deadly children’s games turned lethal with life-or-death stakes, these contests seen on the show do have their basis in actual traditional Korean playground games. Certain key games at the core of Squid Game are grounded in reality before being amplified to gory extremes for the show’s horror-tinged survival competition.
The title refers to a real playground game called “Squid Game” or “Ojingeo Geim” in Korean. It has some parallels to the Western game Red Light Green Light. Players attempt to move towards a finish line when the “fisherman’s” back is turned but must freeze in place when they turn around. Anyone caught moving is sent back to start. In Squid Game’s twist, players are killed instead.
Another iconic game used called “ddakji” where contestants flick paper squares to flip opponent’s pieces also originated from Korean schoolyards. Even the marbles challenge is based on a historic Korean children’s pastime playing for keeps with glass marbles while betting your opponent’s stones.
The maze-like contest tracking movement through panels originated from hopscotch. Another game’s honeycomb candy resembles a common Korean sugar snack. While incredibly elevated and contorted for drama, the blueprint for these lethal competitions drew heavy inspiration from Korean schoolyard classics.
why Was Squid Game Removed?
However, the show’s “tug-of-war” and night brawl battles as well as the overarching tournament premise itself featuring an unnamed competition with a cash prize are complete fictional creations for the show’s purposes. They help make the contests more dynamic and crank up intensity but do not have their roots in actual Korean games.
Additionally, elements like the giant robotic doll or the hostility between masked players are imaginative liberties utilized to generate mystery and suspense rather than reflect real playground activities. So certain individual challenges did stem from regional children’s games before being radically reinvented into grotesque life-or-death games.
Yet as a whole package, the concept of an underground betting-fueled battle involving hundreds of desperate debt-ridden players competing for money in games from their youth is entirely fictionalized rather than based fully on pre-existing Korean pastimes.
Conclusion
While exaggerating aspects of nostalgic schoolyard activities into grim metaphors, ultimately the universe of a shadowy organization overseeing these carnage-filled contests staged for the entertainment of elite gamblers is an entirely fabricated cautionary tale exclusive to the world of Squid Game.
Real-life versions were playground amusement rather than ruthlessly vicious do-or-die tournaments. So the show riffs on cherished childhood memories but no…Squid Game’s level of barbarism does not reflect an actual codified Korean game despite building blocks familiar to the culture before morphing into shocking fictional extremes.
SQUID SQUAD FOREVER ‼️ #SquidGame stars attend the Netflix after party in Hollywood to celebrate their historic #Emmys wins!
📸 via @GettyImages pic.twitter.com/fXqJOGMTBJ
— Squid Game #오징어게임 (@squidgame) September 13, 2022
