Spoiler warning: This article contains spoilers for the first season of Squid Game.
It will be a bloody Christmas. After three years of anticipation, Netflix has finally announced the return of its most popular show, Squid Game, with the second season set to air on the 26th of December this year
The ultraviolent Korean-drama, which followed the story of 456 cash-strapped outcasts taking part in a Battle Royal-style gauntlet for the chance to win 45.6 billion won, shocked viewers around the world in 2021. The show now seems poised to continue
from where it left off.
A teaser released last week shows Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), leaving the airport where, at the end of season one, he disembarks a flight to see his daughter after discovering a new Squid Game is being organised. As he walks towards the terminal exit, he gets a call.
“You’ll regret your decision,” a voice says, and he stops short. “I will find you,” Gi-hun answers. “No matter what it takes.”
As the teaser suggests, and Netflix’s official synopsis confirms, season two will revolve around Gi-hun, now rich, as he tries to dismantle the organisation. But there is a twist: to put an end to the game, Gi-hun will be forced to take part again.
As you would expect from a show with a high fatality rate, not many of season one’s cast will be returning. However, those that are – namely Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Gong Yoo and Wi Ha-jun – will be instrumental in answering the questions the show raised three years ago.
Who is behind the game? Were they simply organised for entertainment or was it an excuse for some darker motive? And why did Cho Sang-woo’s brother shoot him? Even if the show’s second season fails to deliver answers, we can rest easy: a third season is already in the works.
Even though Squid Game’s cast is getting a makeover, the show’s creator and writer, Hwang Dong-hyuk, should offer some stability. The history-making writer/director delighted in 2021 with his clue-ridden writing with its rife nods to artistic influences, from Magritte to Escher, and has returned to his original role for the show’s second instalment.
Whether Dong-hyuk can recapture the success of three years ago with only a quarter ofthe time he had to write the first season remains to be seen, but one thing is sure. To the question raised in the second season’s trailer – “Are you ready to play again?” – there is just one answer: a resounding “Yes”.
Words by Elkyn Ernst
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