Squid Game‘s infamous ‘Red Light, Green Light’ animatronic doll halted co-stars HoYeon Jung and Lee Jung-jae on their way to the stage to present the award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series at the 2022 Emmys.
The display was a playful nod in reference to last year’s breakout hit show, in which desperate adults play grisly versions of a number of children’s games. ‘Red Light, Green Light’ was the first game played, which quickly culled dozens of contestants from the competition, after being shot dead after failing to stop while in the doll’s sights.
Much like their characters on the show, HoYeon and Jung-jae played along with the doll to the audience’s delight and, thankfully, made it to the microphone unscathed to present the award to Saturday Night Live, which beat out A Black Lady Sketch Show, the only other nominee.
HoYeon Jung herself was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as the enigmatic Kang Sae-byeok, however, she lost out to Julia Garner for her role as Ruth Langmore in Ozark.
Lee Jung-jae is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Seong Gi-Hun, up against the likes of Bob Odenkirk, Jason Bateman, and Adam Scott.
Season two of Squid Game was confirmed in June, with a close-up teaser of the animatronic doll’s eye revealing the number two. The teaser came with a statement from series showrunner and creator Hwang Dong-Hyuk offering fans a few tidbits on what to expect from the next round of grisly games and confirming a number of returning characters.