Squid Game (TV series)

This article is about the television series. For other uses, see Squid Game.

45.6 billion won is child's play

Official quote

Squid Game (오징어게임 Ojing-eo Geim^?) is a South Korean survival drama streaming television series written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk. Its cast includes Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, Ho-yeon Jung, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi and Kim Joo-ryoung.

The series tells the story of a group of people, including series protagonist Seong Gi-hun, who risk their lives in a mysterious survival game called the Squid Games for a ₩45.6 billion prize. It was released worldwide on September 17, 2021, on the streaming service Netflix. The title of the series draws from a similarly named Korean children's game. Hwang had conceived of the idea based on his own economic struggles early in life as well as the class disparity in South Korea. Though he had initially written it in 2009, he was unable to find a production company to fund the idea until Netflix took an interest around 2019 as part of their drive to expand their foreign programming offerings.

Filmed under COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in 2020, the first season released in 2021 and reached No. 1 in 90 countries on Netflix's weekly most-watched TV show charts, becoming the first Korean drama to do so. On October 12, 2021, Netflix announced that the series drew 111 million viewers in its first month on the platform, according to internal Netflix estimates, becoming the biggest launch in the streaming giant's history.^[1]^[2] On November 9, 2021, series creator Hwang confirmed that Squid Game will return for a second season, which aired in 2024.^[3]^[4] A third season is planned to be released in 2025.

Summary

Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits — with deadly high stakes

Netflix's description of the series

Middle-aged chauffeur Seong Gi-hun lives with his mother in perpetual poverty, knee-deep in debt from a failed business venture and a serious gambling addiction, and struggling to support his daughter after a divorce. One day after missing a train, a sharply-dressed man approaches Gi-hun and offers him ₩100,000 if he wins a game of ddakji, getting slapped across the face every time he loses. After Gi-hun takes up the offer and wins a few games, the man then gives him a card and invites him to play similar games with much more at stake.

Eventually accepting the offer, Gi-hun wakes up in an unknown location alongside 455 other people, each given a tracksuit and a number, and all of them monitored by masked guards in pink suits who answer to a mysterious man, also masked, known only as the Front Man. It is explained that all 456 people have unpayable debts, but are being given a chance to free themselves from their dire straits once and for all by playing six children's games over the course of six days, after which they are either eliminated or the winner of a grand prize of billions of won.

However, it isn't until the first game is underway that it's made clear what exactly was meant by "eliminating" players. As Gi-hun finds allies and enemies in others amid the physical and psychological twists of the game, several outside variables, including a police officer with a missing brother determined to bring those behind the game to justice, introduce unforeseen complications that threaten to throw the game into chaos.

Cast

See also: Cast

Episodes

Season 1

See also: Episodes

Season 2

Season 3

Trivia

It is said that the original title of the show was 'Round 6', referring to the final round of the games. Brazil is the only country which the original title of the series was kept as Round 6.
Squid Game was originally supposed to be a movie. However, a decision was made to turn it into a series instead, allowing several things to be added and extended, such as the subplot featuring Hwang Jun-ho and In-ho, which did not exist in the original script.
Netflix edited a few scenes to remove phone numbers on the back of the Squid Games invitation cards. These scenes were edited after finding out the phone numbers were in use by real people who were getting thousands of phone calls from viewers of the series, who were curious to find out about the numbers.
Several of the actors had previously worked with Hwang Dong-hyuk, such as Lee Byung-hun, Kim Joo-ryoung, and Heo Sung-tae.

Related works

Mockumentary

Hwang had also worked with Netflix to create a mockumentary inspired by Squid Game's success, titled The Best Show on the Planet. Hwang said the comedy was based on his own personal experience of being pushed into the spotlight due to the rapid success of Squid Game.

Squid Game: The Challenge

Netflix announced a reality competition series, Squid Game: The Challenge, in June 2022 along with an open casting call. The ten-episode series will see 456 players competing for a US$4.56 million cash prize, with challenges based on those in the show. Production is a joint work of Studio Lambert and The Garden. The filming started in early 2023 at Cardington Studios in Bedfordshire.

Squid Game: Unleashed

To coincide with Season 2 Netflix multiplayer game called Squid Game: Unleashed that was released on December 17, 2024.^[5]

Untitled David Fincher's Squid Game Project

On January 7, 2025 it was revealed that acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher was also developing a separate English-language Squid Game series. It's also believed Dennis Kelly is on board to write in the aforementioned series.^[6] News of an American remake first emerged in October 2024 when it was confirmed that Fincher has been working on the project for several years now.^[7]