Hwang Dong-hyuk, the showrunner behind Squid Game, the Netflix survival thriller set to make its much-awaited return in just a matter of days, says that he originally envisioned the upcoming Seasons 2 and 3 as a single story. The problem is that this original idea would've resulted in way too many episodes for one season of television.
Hwang is a very busy man nowadays, and it's all because of a very good idea he had in the late 2000s. This idea would ultimately become Squid Game, the Netflix series that holds the record as the most-viewed show on the streamer. As we wait for Season 2 to premiere on December 26, Hwang spoke to Entertainment Weekly and revealed an interesting detail about his original plan for the second season:
"I originally envisioned seasons 2 and 3 as a single story. That's how I wrote it. But in the process, it came out to be too many episodes. So I thought it'd be better to divide it into two."
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'Squid Game' Season 2 is coming soon, and showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk is teasing with a "crueler, scarier and more gruesome" return.
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Season 2 of Squid Game follows Seong Gi-hun, the original survivor of the first game, three years after he went through the terrifying series of children's games in a harrowing competition that made him a millionaire. Contrary to expectations, Player 456 joins the game again in order to take down the whole operation from the inside. Hwang talks about continuing the character's original journey:
"I knew that there was so much expectation and curiosity as to what would Gi-hun do next by the fans, so I didn't want to end it here. I wanted to tell the story of what happened to Gi-hun after where we leave him at the end of season 1 and what he does, what kind of actions he takes in order to put a stop to these games. As creator, writer, and director, it was almost my mission or my role to further tell that story... the story I wanted to tell came to a full closure at the end of season 3. And I wanted to repay all of the love that we had received in one way or another."
Making a Notable Follow-Up to 'Squid Game' Season 1 Wasn't an Easy Feat Close
Per previous statements, Hwang went through a harrowing process when making Season 1 of the show (he claims to have lost some of his teeth in the process). At first, he wasn't excited about coming back, but the show quickly became a cultural phenomenon that Netflix capitalized on very quickly. In fact, those claims above about Hwang changing his plans to divide Season 2 into Seasons 2 and 3? It sure does sound like a Netflix requirement to simply make more with what he had. Per Hwang's conversation with EW:
"Honestly, when I was first working on the first season, I didn't have any plans or thoughts about there ever being further seasons. In Korea, it's not very common for series to have multiple seasons, and also because Season 1 was so incredibly demanding, so I don't think I had the confidence to once again work on further [seasons] where I would be the writer, director, and creator all throughout.
I do remember when I was finishing up my scripts for the first season, towards the end, I did have this vague idea. And I got to thinking about creating Seasons 2 and 3, firstly because of the huge success of Season 1, as well as there being just so much anticipation and expectation for the story to further develop by the fans. So I revisited that little bit of a possibility that I had left towards the end of Season 1 after it was created, and we wanted to do a further story."
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*Availability in US Release Date September 17, 2021 Cast Wi Ha-joon , Anupam Tripathi , Oh Yeong-su , Heo Sung-tae , Park Hae-soo , Jung Ho-yeon , Lee Jung-jae , Kim Joo-ryoung