Netflix's 'Squid Game' Season 2 Seemingly Confirmed in 'Planning Process' by Creator

By Allison Schonter

After becoming Netflix's biggest original series of all time, Squid Game has reportedly been renewed for a second season. At an event celebrating the show in Los Angeles, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk confirmed that the massively popular South Korean series will return for a second season on the platform, teasing, "I almost feel like you leave us no choice!" He added that "there will definitely be a second season" and that he is "in the planning process currently." At this time, Netflix has not made a formal Squid Game Season 2 renewal announcement.

The reported Season 2 renewal doesn't come as much of a surprise. Debuting on the platform back on Sept. 17 and following a group of people invited to take part in a series of life-or-death children's games with the chance of winning millions of dollars, Squid Game became an instant hit. The series immediately debuted at the top of Netflix's global streaming charts and dominated social media conversations and trends. Within the first month of its debut, Squid Game was viewed by 111 million accounts globally, making the series Netflix's biggest series launch ever and the first Netflix original title to top 100 million viewers within its first month on the platform. By late October, the series reached 142 million households, with Netflix writing in an announcement to their investors, "a mind-boggling 142m member households globally have chosen to watch the title in its first four weeks. The breadth of Squid Game's popularity is truly amazing." Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about Squid Game's success, Dong-hyuk theorized it was due to the current state of the world and the easily relatable characters.

"Well, these days we are, in fact, living in a deeply unfair and economically challenging world. Especially after the pandemic. I mean, there is more inequality, more severe competition and more people are being pushed to the edge of their livelihoods," he said. "Currently, I would say that more than 90% of people across the world will be able to somehow connect and empathize with the plight of the characters that are portrayed in the series. More than anything else, that's probably why the series was such a big success worldwide."

It remains unclear how exactly Season 2 will playout. At this week's event, Dong-hyuk did hint that the new season would at least partially focus on Gi-hun, the lone survivor of Season 1's games. In his THR interview, Dong-hyuk suggested "we could go with Gi-hun's story as he turns back, and explore more about how he's going to navigate through his reckoning with the people who are designing the games." He also said a possible plot could revolve around "the story of the police officer and the story of his brother, The Front Man. So if I end up creating Season 2, I'd like to explore that storyline - what is going on between those two brothers?"

Squid Game stars Lee Jung-jae, Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, Jung Ho-yeon, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi, and Kim Joo-ryoung. The first season is available for streaming on Netflix along with three other titles from Dong-hyuk - Silenced, Miss Granny, and The Fortress. Squid Game Season 2, not officially confirmed by the streamer, does not yet have a premiere date.

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