The games are only just beginning as Netflix has revealed Squid Game season 2 with a very brief teaser video, a message from the show’s creator and a Tudum blog post. We already knew that a second season of the hit South Korean show was in the works, but this is the first time the streamer has promoted its return in an official capacity.
The teaser video features the animatronic doll seen during the “Red Light, Green Light” game in the show’s first episode. The video is accompanied by text that confirms “Squid Game is officially coming back for Season 2!” Unfortunately, there is no actual footage included in the teaser, but a “message for the fans” from Hwang Dong-Hyuk, the writer, director, producer, creator of Squid Game, has given us our first details.
Red light… GREENLIGHT! Squid Game is officially coming back for Season 2! pic.twitter.com/4usO2Zld39June 12, 2022
The statement is headlined: “A whole new round is coming,” presumably confirming that Squid Game season 2 will indeed feature more deadly playground games. “It took 12 years to bring the first season of ‘Squid Game’ to life last year. But it took 12 days for Squid Game’ to become the most popular Netflix series ever,” reads the message from Hwang.
The statement also teases what’s to come next, and confirms a few returning characters including season one protagonist, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), and the sinister mask-wearing antagonist, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun). Hwang also hints that the “man in the suit with ddakji might be back” and also reveals that viewers will be introduced to the boyfriend of the giant animatic doll Yong-hee, named Cheol-su.
Prepare for more Squid Games
While this marks the first public promotion of Squid Game season 2, more episodes seemed a near certainty after the juggernaut success of the show’s first season. Within its first four weeks on Netflix, Squid Game racked up 1.65 billion hours of viewing, making it Netflix’s biggest TV show ever. A feat the likes of Stranger Things season 4 and The Witcher season 2 haven’t even managed to surpass. No wonder Netflix is keen to reassure subscribers that Squid Game will be back.
If the Squid Game hype train somehow passed you by, the nine-episode drama series premiered on Netflix in September 2021. It follows a group of desperate people who compete in a series of deadly children's games in order to win a cash prize. Its final episode ended on a dramatic cliffhanger, so a follow-up seemed inevitable.
Earlier this year Hwang hinted that a second season was a possibility, before Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos confirmed the series would return and could launch its own “expanded universe.” It’s also been suggested that multiple important characters could return for Squid Game season 2, including some you might not expect.
Netflix subscribers already planning their Squid Game season watch parties, might want to hold fire for a while yet. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Squid Game season 2 will be with us anytime soon. Netflix notes it's “still in its early stages” of development and Hwang previously claimed the plan was to have the show’s sophomore season streaming on Netflix by the end of 2024.
