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‘Squid Game’ star was thrilled when it came time to shoot her death scene

"Comfortable" isn't the word that most actors would use to describe a death scene.

Squid Game
Netflix

It’s been nine months since Netflix’s Squid Game had the whole world glued to their seats. Hwang Dong-hyuk’s South Korean survival drama revolves around a contest involving deadly children’s games; 456 players, all of whom are strapped for cash and in crippling debt, sign themselves up for the opportunity to win a grand prize of ₩45.6 billion ($38 million) but risk their lives in the process. When Netflix chose to expand their foreign programming directory, the streaming giant took Dong-Hyuk’s 2008 screenplay under its wing. Months later, they were extremely glad they did.

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When Squid Game released in September 2021, it gained critical acclaim and international fame, skyrocketing to Netflix’s “Top 10” list immediately during its opening weekend. Jung Ho-yeon, who plays Kang Sae-byeok (067), sadly never made it to the finale; her character was brutally murdered in “Episode 8: Front Man” by fellow finalist Sang-woo. However, don’t spare any sympathy for the 27-year-old; she assures that when it came to shoot her death scene, she was positively overjoyed.

Speaking to Variety, Jung Ho-yeon called Sae-byeok’s death scene “the most comfortable scene” she had. When Sae-byeok entered the competition, she was raising her younger brother by herself and looking to pay for a broker to smuggle her parents across the border. With the prize money, she wanted to buy a family home for them all to live in. Unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plan, but Ho-yeon shed no tears over her character’s death, instead suggesting that it might have been for the best. “Her life was such a struggle and hard,” she said.

“Maybe it’s weird to say it, but while I’m shooting my death scene, I was so happy. It was the most comfortable scene I ever had. It’s because I’ve been living with my character over a few months, and then there is a time that I have to let her go, and I kind of feel like I can happily let her go, because I can understand. Maybe not fully, but I’m the one who can understand her most in this world, so I know her stress, and I know how her life was [such a] struggle and hard. So it wasn’t that bad or sad.”

Seemingly overnight, Squid Game became Netflix’s most-watched series in 94 countries, attracting more than 142 million member households and accumulating 1.65 billion viewing hours in just four weeks. Hwang Dong-hyuk has since teased Sae-byeok’s return, which at this stage seems unlikely. Meanwhile, Ho-yeon has signed on to star in Joe Talbot’s sophomore feature The Governesses’ for A24, joined by Lily-Rose Depp and Renate Reinsve.