Squid Game is unquestionably the breakout genre hit of 2021. Who would have thought that a Korean-language drama about indebted people forced to play life-or-death children’s games would resonate so strongly with people all over the world?
Nonetheless, it happened, and Netflix is eager for creator Hwang Dong-hyuk to make a second season. He’s not giving anything specific away yet, but he did share some thoughts during a virtual SAG panel hosted by Entertainment Weekly.
“I’m not really in the right place to be discussing season 2 in an official setting, but if there were to be a season 2, in the first season that we saw Gi-hun is a character whose humanity is shown through or exposed in certain situations,” Hwang mused. “In other words, his humanity is shown through a very passive manner.”
"But I would think that in the second season, what he has learned from the games and his experience in the first season, they will all be put to use in a more active manner. And at the same time, as for the Front Man [Lee Byung-hun] who was also a past winner but became a Front Man, it’s like Darth Vader. Some end up Jedi and some become Darth Vader, right?"
Squid Game goes Star Wars? I’m here for it.
Gi-hun will be “put through a test” in Squid Game season 2
And I see what Hwang is saying. In the first season, Gi-hun was at the mercy of the games; every choice he made was forced upon him by the Front Man and the other rich assholes running this thing. But at the end of the first season, he made the active decision to take them down, which changes things. “I think that maybe Gi-hun will go through a certain critical point where he is put through a test as well,” Hwang said.
Keeping with the Star Wars theme, perhaps Gi-hun will be tempted to join the rich sociopaths and become a part of the Squid Game organization — be tempted by the Dark Side, if you will. Hopefully he’ll resist, but actor Lee Jung-jae can see it going another way. “If I had to be a Front Man, I would be the most scary Front Man you would ever see.”
Obviously there’s no release date for Squid Game season 2 yet, but I’m sure Netflix is putting on the pressure to get something out sooner rather than later.
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h/t Digital Spy