The end of the holiday season in America will be marked by one thing and one thing only: the arrival of “Squid Game” season 2. The smash hit South Korean series from Netflix and creator Hwang Dong-hyuk became the streaming juggernaut’s most popular series of all time, inspiring a reality TV competition show (that completely misses the point of the original series) and an upcoming sister series set in America from David Fincher (that will probably be awesome). Although it took over a decade for Dong-hyuk to get “Squid Game” into eyeballs across the globe, Netflix is making sure the show will end without another big break between seasons; season 2 hits just after Christmas, and the third and final season will drop sometime in 2025. Considering the show’s premise revolves around hundreds of people dying in an attempt to secure financial stability, season 2 unfortunately won’t see a lot of returning faces (RIP), save for Emmy Award winner Lee Jung-jae as the winner of the games, Seong Gi-hu, Lee Byung-hun as the games’ Front Man, “Train to Busan” star Gong Yoo as the Recruiter, and Wi Ha-jun as Detective Hwang Jun-ho who was left for dead by his brother, the masked leader of the games.
Gi-hun surviving the games is nothing to celebrate as it means 455 people died to get him to that point, not to mention, while he was in the games, he lost his mother and his ex-wife and daughter are moving to the United States. Now, while enduring his survivor’s guilt, he’s on a dark mission to put a stop to the games and the organization that changed his life forever. There’s no such thing as a “winner” when you’re playing the Squid Game, but we have a feeling he already knows that.
Squid Game season 2 raises the stakes
As you can see from the trailer, the second season of the show raises the stakes as Seong Gi-hu, also known as Player 456, re-enters the hellscape of the competition. We don’t really get much of a look at the personal aspect of the show in this trailer (that would be a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time, especially when Netflix likely just wants to remind people of the visceral thrills and social commentary of season 1 here), but I’m curious if the show will be able to leverage those personal angles in a compelling way or if the show will end up just feeling like more of the same. At the very least, we can look forward to Player 456 trying to make a case to his fellow competitors about why they should collectively stop playing this fatal game, but considering how capitalism has left these players desperate for a way to rise above their station, it seems likely that plea ultimately won’t work out. Oh, well — all the better for audiences who are seeking another round of visceral thrills.
“Squid Game” season 2 premieres on Netflix on December 26, 2024.
