On Thursday, Netflix is set to release the second season of “Squid Game,” the dystopian survival thriller series that launched its first season in September 2021.
The South Korean production was an immediate worldwide hit, becoming Netflix’s most popular series. The show likewise gained critical acclaim, raking in numerous accolades including Primetime Emmy Awards for acting for Lee Jung-jae, and directing for Hwang Dong-hyuk.
The success of the show catapulted Lee’s career internationally, taking him to the Cannes Film Festival, and landing him his first English-language role in the “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte”—a show fans and critics met with much less enthusiasm than Squid Game.
“Squid Game” season 2 is canned and set to air on Dec. 26.
For Lee Jung-jae, he said returning to the set in the role of Gi-hun felt like he had never left.
“Including promotion, I’d been living with Gi-hun for about two years,” said Lee in a recent interview. “I really felt like I was him.”
“Squid Game” revolves around an underground competition in Korea, where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, participate in childlike games to win a 45.6 billion Korean won (312 million USD) prize. Only when the games begin do the contestants realize that losing has deadly consequences.
Lee says he had his doubts when Netflix ordered a second season of “Squid Game,” because it took director Hwang years to complete the first one.
“I wondered, ‘How many years will it take him to write season two,’” said Lee.
To everyone’s surprise—including his own—Hwang only needed six months to write the script for not only season two, but also for a third and final season.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to write something that fast again,” Hwang said.
Lee said when he read the script, he thought Hwang “really is a genius.”
Anticipation is high, especially in Korea, where it’s rare for even successful TV shows to have more than one season.
“There’s a Korean phrase, ‘there’s not a sequel that does better than its prequel,’” said Yang Dong-geong, who plays a new character in season two. “I’ve been careful because we aren’t really sure what the reaction will be.”
But things seem to be looking good, at least in the U.S. film and television industry: season two has already been nominated in the best drama series category at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards.
According to Jo Yu-ri, a new cast member who is playing a girl who lost her money via crypto, the directing crew took their time with casting. She recalls a two-month wait between her first and second casting rounds. When she finally got the part, she shed tears of happiness, but she wasn’t allowed to speak about it until the cast was officially announced by Netflix.
“There were a couple of close friends that popped champagne for me when they found out,” said Yang.
Season two is not without controversy. The new episodes feature a transgender character, played by Park Sung-hoon, who joins the games to fund gender transition surgery.
“We don’t have a very large pool of actors that allow for authentic casting when it comes to transgender characters,” Hwang said. “We tried to find someone who we thought could be the best fit. However, we weren’t able to.”
Nevertheless, Hwang said he was perfectly satisfied with Park’s performance and approach to the role.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.