Hwang Dong-hyuk, creator, writer and director of the insanely popular Netflix show Squid Game, has released a note about the upcoming second season, alongside a teaser trailer.
"It took 12 years to bring the first season of Squid Game to life last year," writes Dong-hyuk. "But it took 12 days for Squid Game to become the most popular Netflix series ever."
After thanking the fans he goes on to offer some details about the next season:
"And now, Gi-hun returns. The front man returns. Season 2 is coming. The man in the suit with ddakji might be back. You'll also be introduced to Young-hee's boyfriend.
"Join us once more for a whole new round."
If it's been a while since you watched: Gi-hun is the show's main character. Young-hee is a giant animatronic doll that is the centrepiece of a game called Red Light, Green Light, and her boyfriend's eye is the focus of the teaser trailer: his name's apparently Cheol-su.
Also confirmed to return is the Salesman, the character who first draws Gi-hun into the world of the Squid Game. This is the "man in the suit with ddakji", ddakji being the envelope-tossing, face-slapping game of escalation that is used to draw Gi-hun into entering.
On your marks.Get set.Greenlight.Squid Game continues, only on Netflix.#SquidGameS2 pic.twitter.com/spH30iRDO4June 12, 2022
"We are working on the script right now and making the form of the story," says executive producer Kim Ji-yeon. "But there’s definitely a lot of pressure on how to make [Season 2] even better. I know that a lot of the different fans and audiences have enjoyed the series very much, but really we’re focusing on how to make it even more joyful to the global audience."
The nine-episode Korean drama is one of Netflix's biggest-ever original hits and, as Tyler noted at the time, is heavily inspired by Battle Royale (the movie, not the videogame genre), alongside stuff like the Running Man. Indeed part of its horror is combining some of these dystopian concepts with childrens' street games.
The show's success saw it inspire a wave of videogames loosely based on its ideas: mainly in creation platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, which saw a flood of "squidlikes" and oh-so many Squid Game mods. Netflix has also said it's considering an official Squid Game: The Game, though has since gone quiet.
The ending of the first series made it pretty clear that this story would continue, and it arguably deserved its success (not least for the stunning and imaginative set design). Season 2 doesn't have a release date yet, but I'm pretty sure it won't take 12 years to arrive.
