Squid Game has been cleaning up at awards shows over the last month. The high-concept Korean drama came out of nowhere on Netflix last year to become a gigantic hit, attracting audiences with its striking visuals, compelling characters, and sadistic takes on classic children’s playground games. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk rocketed to fame, Netflix made a bunch of money, and a second season is now officially on the way.
Last night Squid Game triumphed at the 27th Critics Choice Awards, walking away with Best Foreign Language Series and Best Actor in a Drama Series (for Lee Jung Jae’s Gi-hun). Variety quizzed Hwang Dong-hyuk on the red carpet about what’s coming in the second season, though were stonewalled:
“It’s here. Not on the page, it’s here [his head]. Everything is secret. I cannot tell anything, But he will come back and do something for the world.”
We can assume that Squid Game season two will see Gi-hun participating in another round of the games, doubtless using his knowledge of how they work to help out his fellow contestants. This should dovetail into a story of him taking down the masked elites that run the games, which will hopefully result in some sweet poetic justice.
Lee Jung Jae has his own weird idea of what could happen next. At the SAG Awards, he theorized that the dead characters may be able to return to life after receiving experimental life-saving surgery. This is an objectively terrible idea, though I’m sure he’s joking about it being an actual possibility.
With Netflix no doubt champing at the bit for a repeat of Squid Game‘s 2021 success, I’m betting any season two plans will be fast-tracked through production, though if work hasn’t begun we may not see new episodes until at least late 2023 or early 2024.
More the plans for Squid Game‘s return as we hear it.