Netflix’s Squid Game has been out for approximately a month now, and it’s still got the internet all abuzz with its breath-taking twists and turns, and making Netflix a bundle in the process. There are endless TikTok videos out there parodying the series, and folks online are attempting to play the games themselves (minus the murder). This can only mean one thing: Netflix is going to make a season 2.
Back in September, when the series was just starting to pick up steam, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk didn’t sound like he had any big ideas for a second season; the first was already a huge enough project to tackle as the writer and director. But now, just several weeks later, Hwang has a couple of ideas about how to push forward the story in season 2.
Squid Game ends with lead character Gi-hun leaving the airport to go confront the people behind the Squid Game. “I thought that might be a good, simple-but-ambiguous way to end the story for Gi-hun,” Hwang told The Hollywood Reporter. But while he saw that as a good, open-ended finale for the season (and originally, the series), he did have some ideas on how he could expand on things. “And, of course, we could go with Gi-hun’s story as he turns back, and explore more about how he’s going to navigate through his reckoning with the people who are designing the games.”
And on top of that, he had two additional ideas for a second season:
"There are some other stories in the series that have not been addressed. For example, the story of the police officer and the story of his brother, the Front Man. So if I end up creating season 2, I’d like to explore that storyline — what is going on between those two brothers? And then I could also go into the story of that recruiter in the suit who plays the game of ddakji with Gi-hun and gives him the card in the first episode… So, I don’t know yet, but I’ll just say there are a lot of possibilities out there for season two storylines."
Season 2 could explore the Squid Game recruiter
It sounds like Swang is more interested in expanding on the other characters in the series than doing just a straight continuation of Gi-hun’s storyline. Yes, it’d be interesting to see what Gi-hun gets up trying to dismantle the Squid Game. But at the same time, Hwang created such a rich universe filled with amazing lore and characters to explore that I can understand why he’d want to focus on those instead.
Still, with Gi-hun being the protagonist and the most well-developed character of the series, I think that the simplest approach (and best way not to disappoint fans) would be to continue his story. We can continue to have B and C plots about other characters. And I definitely think the story about the brothers could use a lot more fleshing out. But in the end, I think audiences will be dying to know what happens to Gi-hun next.
Of course, if Netflix really had it their way, I’m sure they’d love to explore all of this in multiple spinoffs. But, building a universe is a lot of work, and sometimes it’s just better to keep things simple.
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h/t SyFy Wire