Netflix orders Squid Game reality show, probably won’t kill contestants

Squid Game is a Korean-language Netflix show about a group of rich a**holes who amuse themselves by gathering poor people on an island and watching as they play children’s games with life-or-death stakes, with the last person standing getting an enormous cash prize. It’s a bleak, dystopian story that also became the most-watched show in the history of Netflix, so naturally, spinoffs were coming.

Enter Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality competition show where 456 contestants will play those children’s games for real…although presumably none of them will die when they lose…presumably. The last person standing will get a cash prize, though: $4.56 million, which Netflix claims is the biggest lump-sum prize in TV history, per The Hollywood Reporter.

There’s something a little odd about Netflix taking Squid Game, which is an indictment of staggering wealth inequality, and turning into an un-ironic spectacle. But also: eh, some of those games look fun. The YouTuber Mr. Beast famously already mounted his own real-life Squid Games that earned praise from show creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. Netflix did not commment.

Squid Game: The Challenge is a “social experiment” filled with “tension and twists”

Netflix did comment about their show, though. “Squid Game took the world by storm with [director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s] captivating story and iconic imagery,” said executive Brandon Riegg. “We’re grateful for his support as we turn the fictional world into reality in this massive competition and social experiment. Fans of the drama series are in for a fascinating and unpredictable journey as our 456 real world contestants navigate the biggest competition series ever, full of tension and twists, with the biggest-ever cash prize at the end.”

Social experiment? Unpredictable? Tension and twists? Netflix, I need you to say you’re not gonna kill people, just for safety.

Another interesting wrinkle is that all the contestants will need to understand English, the reasoning being that instructions will be given over loud speaker and everyone playing the game needs to understand. They can speak other languages, but they need to be able to understand English.

This news comes after we learned that Netflix had officially ordered a second season of the original Squid Game show. Maybe they can air at the same time? It’d be a weird double bill.

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