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‘Squid Game’ Creator: Season 2 Will Release in Late 2023 or 2024, Expand on Front Man Storyline

Samantha Bergeson
·3-min read

The “Squid Game” is ready for another round.

Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk revealed that Season 2 of the record-breaking Netflix series could arrive by as early as late next year, with a tentative release date of 2023 or early 2024. Korean series “Squid Game” debuted on the streamer in 2021.

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“Humanity is going to be put to a test through those games once again,” Hwang told Vanity Fair of what’s ahead for the life-or-death series, revealing that Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is confirmed to return.

Hwang added that the elusive Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who oversees the games, will have a larger role in the second season. Overall, Season 2 sets out to “ask the question, ‘Is true solidarity between humans possible?'” after characters were “focused on wanting to kill each other off” in Season 1.

“Squid Game” marked the biggest series launch ever for Netflix and became the first Korean series to be No. 1 in Netflix’s Top 10 titles in the U.S. The show went on to win three Screen Actors Guild Awards at the 2022 ceremony and is now a major Emmys contender.

Netflix’s global TV head Bela Bajaria gave an update on Season 2 in October 2021, citing that Hwang is working on a film (he’s helming the “controversial” project “Killing Old People“) and will most likely bring on more writers for the second season of “Squid Game.”

Hwang previously told IndieWire that he has been “getting a lot of pressure” over what’s next for “Squid Game.”

“I still have the story about the Front Man and his relationship with his brother, the policeman. And people are also curious about where Gi-hun is headed in the finale because he turns away from the plane,” Hwang explained. “I think I do have the obligation to explain it to the fans and I’m thinking about Season 2, but at the time, I was so tired after finishing Season 1, I couldn’t really think of Season 2. But now that it’s become such a big hit, people would hate me if I don’t make a Season 2, so I feel a lot of pressure and think I’d have to. The big success of Season 1 is a big reward to me, but at the same time it’s given me a lot of pressure.”

And, Hwang is also already looking ahead to Season 3.

“Squid Game” originally was slated to be a feature film and was over 10 years in the making after Hwang wrote the script in 2009. Hwang pitched “Squid Game” as a film to Netflix after the streamer launched in South Korea in 2016. The creator formerly told IndieWire that the concept was “not realistic at the time” since it was “too bizarre” and wouldn’t be a financial success as a film. The nine-episode series premiered on Netflix in September 2021.

Star Lee Jung-jae, meanwhile, makes his directorial debut at Cannes this year with the espionage thriller “Hunt.”

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