Netflix’s Biggest Series Has Been Officially Renewed
Netflix has just announced that the biggest show in the history of the platform and basically anything is getting a second season.
This article is more than 2 years old
Squid Game season 2 is officially a go. The ridiculously successful, wincingly brutal South Korean survival series has been greenlit by Netflix for a new batch of episodes from creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, according to Deadline. Squid Games season 1 was a massive blockbuster for the streaming platform, so the eventual approval of a season 2 was a no-brainer at least on the Netflix side. However, Hwang Dong-hyuk did not initially have plans for more Squid Game, particularly as it famously took him 12 years to write and produce the initial series himself. Netflix’s official Twitter account posted a short, surprisingly poetic statement from the series creator:
Per Hwang Dong-hyuk’s statement, there is some confirmation of who we will see returning. According to him, series lead Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) will be back, as will Hwang In-ho aka The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun). He also says that Squid Game season 2 will introduce the boyfriend of Young-hee, the terrifying and deadly animatronic doll, so that will probably be fun and horrifying. There are no details as of yet for the plot of Squid Game season 2, but we can assume that it will involve another set of contestants and a whole new collection of soul-destroying games and punishments.
The first season of Squid Game was a cultural event on an unheard-of scale, so Squid Game season 2 has a lot to live up to. The original show is Netflix’s most-watched series by a massive margin; within four weeks of its premiere, it had racked up a mind-boggling 1.65 billion views. That’s billion with a B, not million. It became the top-viewed Netflix program in 94 countries and instantly inspired innumerable memes, costumes, and parodies. A South Korean candy featured in the show saw its sales spike around the world and inspired a number of imitative video games. It even inspired a brief cryptocurrency scam, which to be clear, was not the fault of anyone involved with Squid Game seasons 1 or 2. It is fair to say that Squid Game made a pretty big splash.
In short, Squid Game season 2 has a lot riding on it. Hwang Dong-hyuk has stated that he did not have a specific plot in mind for a continuation of the series and would likely be working with a team of writers this time around, instead of working solo. The first season of the show was highly praised and much discussed for its themes of economic disparity and the cruelty of capitalism. It will be interesting to see whether Squid Game season 2 will continue examining these topics, which have been at the forefront of South Korean film and television in recent years.
There is currently no announced premiere date for Squid Game season 2 or information on how many episodes it will be. But whenever it is released, it will no doubt be another massive, gory, heartbreaking streaming television event. Until then, we will all just have to rewatch the original episodes and be terrified by Young-hee all over again.
