Who would have thought that a Korean-language drama about indebted people willingly entering into a dystopian circus where they play deadly games for the amusement of the super-rich would become the most-watched TV series in the history of Netflix? But so it came to pass: the first season ofSquid Game came out in 2021 and quickly took the world by storm. And after a very strange Squid Game reality series that kinda seemed like it missed the point of the original show, it's returning for a second season on December 26 of this year.
At the end of the first season, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) was the lone survivor of the Squid Games and took home tens of millions of dollars in prize money. Shattered and disturbed, he died his hair bright red and vowed to expose the uber-rich industrialists behind the games. (I really feel like we need to remember the bright red dye job. Is he gonna sport that thing throughout the whole second season?)
This is all very exciting, but there's more good news: according to a statement from Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, a third and final season of Squid Game will drop sometime in 2025. So it's a little disappointing that the show is ending, but we're going to get both new seasons one after the other, which is becoming increasingly rare for big-budget tentpole shows like these.
Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk announces that season 2 is coming this December and that season 3 will follow the year after. It will be the last season. pic.twitter.com/zogI53goY8
— Winter is Coming (@WiCnet) August 1, 2024
I don't know what else to say except bring it on! The first season of Squid Game was thoughtful, exciting and relevant at a time when the divide between the rich and the poor (and the rich and the super-rich) just keeps widening. I'm eager to see how the team can build on that foundation.
The show did a lot for the careers of its stars, too. Lee Jung-jae recently starred in The Acolyte over on Disney+, a role for which he learned to speak English. He had dark hair in that one. I can't get over the hair question. I'm sure a trailer will come out soon and put the issue to bed.
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h/t The A.V. Club