It's official. Squid Game has been green-lit for another season. The hit South Korean drama - in which desperate, cash-strapped people compete in increasingly deadly challenges to win a life-changing sum of money - was a huge talking point (and provided the perfect fancy dress makeup and costume inspo, too)
Netflix announced the news of the second season with a suitably chilling 10-second teaser on Twitter, featuring the harrowing sing-song tones of Young-hee, the giant killer robot doll from season one's notorious Red Light, Green Light game. The announcement was accompanied by a few details from director Hwang Dong-hyuk, including the news that we will meet Young-hee's 'boyfriend' Cheol-su in season two. One can only imagine what these two get up to on date night.
Here's everything we know so far about Squid Game season two...
When will Squid Game season 2 be on Netflix?
As the second season has only just been announced, and hasn't even started filming, it won't be anytime soon. Previously, the director Hwang Dong-hyuksaid it could be as far away as 2023 or 2024.
Who's in the Squid Game season 2 cast?
Season one's main character Seong Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae) will return, as will the Front Man, the leader of the Masked Men (played by Lee Byung-hun). Director Hwang Dong-hyuk has also said, 'the man in the suit with ddakji might be back', referring to the mysterious character who 'recruits' new players (played by actor Gong Yoo).
There's no word yet if any other season once cast will be returning but we're hoping somehow actress HoYeon Jung might be able to make a comeback...
What will Squid Game season 2 be about?
In an interview with VanityFair in May 2022, director Hwang Dong-hyuk said he wants season two 'to ask the question, "Is true solidarity between humans possible?"' He added that he believed the outcome of season one ould have been very different if the had been able to work together: 'If they were capable of talking with one another, of cooperating with one another, I do agree that there could have been a possibility that we could have seen more winners.'
Presumably we can expect a similar competition to season one - like Total Wipeout but far more gruesome. But perhaps in season two the contestants will be more successful at banding together, rather than turning on each other so violently. (Yeah, right).
The season one Squid Game ending explained...
Need a reminder? (Spoilers ahead). At the end of season one Gi-hun faces off against Sang-woo in a bloody knife fight as part of the final challenge, the eponymous 'squid game'. Gi-hun wins, but stops just before ending the game to invoke Clause Three of the contestants' agreement: if the majority of players agree to abandon the game, the game ends.
However, Sang-woo - who is riddled with guilt for his actions - stabs himself in the neck and tells Gi-hun to take the prize money and help his mother.
A year later, Gi-hun is still traumatised by his experience and has spent hardly any of the money he won. Buying a bunch of flowers, he finds another squid game invitation hidden within the bouquet, telling him to meet his ‘ally' at a building on Christmas Eve.
There, he finds Player 001, the elderly Oh Il-nam, who we all thought had died after the fourth challenge. Il-nam, lying sick in a hospital bed, reveals that he is the mastermind behind the game, which he created party for his own entertainment and also to test humanity’s goodness.
Later, we see Gi-hun at the airport, on his way to see his daughter in the US. He spots the original recruiter and tries to reach him, but is too late. Instead he takes the invitation the recruiter has handed to a new man and calls the number on it. The person at the end of the line recognises his voice and tells him not to get 'any absurd ideas'. Gi-hun doesn't board the plane, and the inference is he will try to expose the organisers of Squid Game...