Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has assured fans that they should not be concerned about Squid Game: The Challenge, the Netflix drama's upcoming reality competition spin-off.
In June, Netflix announced that it was producing a real-life competition series based on the contest depicted in Squid Game, with 456 contestants competing for an unprecedented $4.56 million prize. Given the original series' deadly critique of capitalism and competition, many Squid Game fans were concerned over the spin-off's seeming glorification of the concepts. Per Entertainment Weekly, Hwang addressed the concerns while at the Emmy Awards earlier this week following his win for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. "Yes, I am aware of the reality show being created," he said. "I actually met with the creator yesterday, and they had many questions for me. What I hope is that they will be carrying on my vision and intention as much as possible for the show."
Hwang continued, "I think that even though our show does carry quite a heavy message, and I know there are some concerns of taking that message and creating it into a reality show with a cash prize, however I feel like whenever you take things too seriously, that's really not the best way to go for the entertainment industry," Hwang said. "Doesn't really set a great precedent. So I would say that reproductions of such efforts are going to bring new meaning to the industry, and I hope that this is going to be a great new direction for the industry overall."
Although Squid Game contains many elements critical of societal greed, Hwang himself has also admitted that the Korean drama series isn't "trying to say that capitalism is bad in and of itself." Instead, the Emmy winner wanted to use Squid Game to question what society could do "to change our system to a fairer one."
Released on Netflix in Sept. 2021, Squid Game quickly became a massive critical and commercial success for the streaming service. The series racked up a record-breaking 1.7 billion combined hours viewed, beating out Stranger Things Season 4's 1.4 billion hours. Along with The Challenge, this success has also led Netflix to greenlight a second season of Squid Game and a mockumentary comedy lampooning the show's success, titled The Best Show on the Planet.
Squid Game Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix.
Source: EW