Netflix officially announced that Squid Game has been greenlit for Season 2.
As reported by Variety, Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos was asked during Netflix's fourth-quarter 2021 interview if the streaming service's breakout drama would be getting its much-speculated second season. "Absolutely," he said. "The Squid Game universe has just begun."
This announcement comes after recent news that creator Hwang Dong-hyuk was in talks with Netflix not only for Season 2 but for Season 3 as well. As of early December 2021, the second season of the South Korean survival drama had not yet been renewed by Netflix, though a Netflix spokesperson at the time had said that Season 2 was "in discussions but not confirmed yet." This came after an interview with Dong-hyuk, who stated, "I think there will indeed be a Season 2." However, his comment was later mistranslated as a confirmation.
"I have somewhat of a framework for the next season," Dong-hyuk said. "But I also have to admit that I feel increasingly more pressure about Season 2 as the series has gotten so much more love and attention than I could have expected. I also have a film I've been planning to shoot after Squid Game, and I haven't made up my mind about which one I should do first." Dong-hyuk also stated that actor Lee Jung-jae would return as Seong Gi-hun.
Squid Game quickly became a sensation upon its release, garnering more than 1.4 billion hours viewed within its first 23 days on Netflix. According to reports from Netflix, two-thirds of users completed the series within 23 days, racking up 142 million views over its first 28 days of release, surpassing Bridgerton as the streaming platform's most popular series launch of all time.
According to creator Dong-hyuk, he created Squid Game with the intention to "target a global audience" by using children's games as a premise for a series that explores themes of economic inequality and the effect of capitalism on the human experience. "The children's games that are featured in the show are those that will bring out nostalgia from adults who actually played them as a kid; but they're also games that are really easy to grasp," he said. "So anyone watching, from anywhere in the world, can understand the rules of the games very easily. And since the games are so simple, the viewers don't need to focus on trying to understand the rules. They can instead focus on the inner feelings and the dynamics between the characters a lot more, and then they can get immersed into the whole experience, cheering for and empathizing with the characters."
Squid Game Season 2 does not yet have a release date. Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Variety