Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has said he’s “so sick” of the dystopian survival series that has become a Netflix phenomenon.
The first season of Squid Game was released in 2021 and broke streaming records to become Netflix’s most-watched series. It spawned spinoffs including the reality competition show Squid Game: The Challenge and a video game, Squid Game: Unleashed.
The second season is set to arrive on December 26, and a third season is already in production.
Speaking to Variety, Hwang revealed that he’s ready to take a long break from the horrors of the dystopian game he created once postproduction work on that season is finally completed.
“I’m so exhausted,” he said. “I’m so tired. In a way, I have to say, I’m so sick of Squid Game. I’m so sick of my life making something, promoting something. So I’m not thinking about my next project right now. I’m just thinking about going to some remote island and having my own free time without any phone calls from Netflix.”
Hwang quickly added: “Not the Squid Game island.”
Variety later amended the headline of their story to state that Hwang was joking.
The latest trailer for season two showed Lee Jung-jae‘s Player 456 attempting to end the sadistic games once and for all by re-entering the competition.
A lot of the visuals that we are presented with will be familiar to fans, such as the Red Light Green Light game and the transparent piggy bank full of money but it looks like several new games have been added to proceedings.
We are given a teasing glance at a sinister game of X’s and O’s, while there also appears to be the addition of a hair-raising interpretation of a merry-go-round.
The official synopsis for season two states: “Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their vicious sport. Using this fortune to fund his search, Gi-hun starts with the most obvious of places: look for the man in a sharp suit playing ddakji in the subway.
“But when his efforts finally yield results, the path toward taking down the organisation proves to be deadlier than he imagined: to end the game, he needs to re-enter it.”
Hwang previously admitted he’d never envisioned a follow-up to the original series, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “Honestly when I was creating season one I didn’t plan in any detail that there would be a second season,”