After being pretty firm that he wasn’t immediately interested in returning to Netflix’s world-storming Squid Game, writer/director Hwang Dong-hyuk appears to have had a change of heart. Looking likely to have made the streaming service’s biggest show ever can do that for you. Speaking to The Times, he explained that if a second season does go ahead, he’d like it to focus on “the issue with police officers.”
Yes, it is gaming news that Squid Game is looking more likely to get a second series. We made sure with this. Also, for goodness sakes, look how cleverly I wrote that headline. Come on. And for the avoidance of doubt, there will be epic spoilers for season one of Squid Game below. If you’re the last person on planet Earth to watch it, don’t read on from here.
Right, now he’s gone, we can talk. Remember how at the end of season one, Gi-hun turned from the plane and started back, presumably to wreak his revenge against the monstrous organisers of the Squid Game? (Did you, like I, shout, “No! What are you doing! Be a father to your daughter!” and then just feel utterly glum as the credits rolled?) That seems the obvious direction for another run of the show, but interestingly Hwang Dong-hyuk has other ideas.
“While I was writing season one, I thought about the stories that could be in season two if I get to do one — one would be the story of the Frontman,” he told The Times. The Frontman was the name given to the guy in the black mask, seemingly the person in control for much of the first season. And because he was a former police officer, it’s this angle that intrigues Dong-hyuk.
“I think the issue with police officers is not just an issue in Korea. I see it on the global news that the police force can be very late on acting on things — there are more victims or a situation gets worse because of them not acting fast enough. This was an issue that I wanted to raise. Maybe in season two I can talk about this more.”
It’s a very different position than the director was taking a couple of weeks back. Speaking to Variety he said, “I don’t have well developed plans for Squid Game 2. It is quite tiring just thinking about it.”
However, since then the show has gone on to become a phenomenon. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarando released a statement saying, “Squid Game will definitely be our biggest non-English language show in the world, for sure, and there’s a very good chance it’s going to be our biggest show ever.” You can see why such success might be an alluring reason to come back and do some more, earlier than planned.
Clearly another season would still be a long way off. Hwang Dong-hyuk started writing the show as a movie back in 2008, and said that just the first two episodes of the series took him six months to write. Although he did tell Variety in September, “[I]f I were to do it, I would certainly not do it alone. I’d consider using a writers’ room and would want multiple experienced directors.” So perhaps it could be a speedier process time. But for heaven’s sake, start it off with Gi-hun changing his mind and getting on that damn plane.