Netflix confirms Squid Game season two, ominously promises to expand the franchise
Netflix chief Ted Sarandos says there will "absolutely" be another season of the Korean series
Aux News Squid Game
Netflix officially confirmed that Squid Game is definitely getting a second season. It’s not exactly a surprise, since the Korean survival drama was the most successful show for the streamer ever, becoming a massive worldwide hit. So it’s not exactly a surprise that the company is trying to expand it even further, into a full “universe.”
Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos was asked if the show would be returning during a call about Netflix’s fourth quarter earnings. He said, “Absolutely. The Squid Game universe has just begun.”
Something about Sarandos calling it a “universe” is a little worrying, because Netflix is seemingly going to do their best to turn Squid Game into a tentpole franchise. That’s fine if all of the content remains as sharp and incisive as the original series, but if there’s Squid Games official merch and video games and theme park, it might water down the show’s anti-capitalist message just a bit. Costumes from the show were already a disturbing Halloween trend among kids in 2021.
The show’s creator Hwang Dong-Hyuk said back in November that he was already working on ideas for season two. He also confirmed that the show’s lead, Lee Jung-Jae, would return to play Seong Gi-Gun, the down on his luck chauffeur with a lot of gambling debts.
Hwang said at the time, “I do think it’s too early to say when and how that’s going to happen. So I will promise you this, Gi-Hun will come back. He will do something for the world.”
According to Netflix, Squid Game logged 1.54 billion hours of views during its first 28 days, with 111 million views (though of course that number is self-reported). Squid Game also became the first foreign language television show to ever be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, with four nominations, including solo ones for Lee and HoYeon Jung.
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Universe is the hot new trendThe VIPs said “the Korean games are the best” so the “universe” already existsPrequels: How the old man began the gamesSeong Gi-Gun’a brother winning the game and become the Korean game masterSequel: What does Seong Gi-Gun do next?
Whatever they do, hopefully it’s not the unimaginative slog that first season was, but it probably will be
Move it to America or England to appeal to an American audience–lets be honest.
Turning its lens on America would be the one possibly worthy thing it could do. But based on the quality of the English-language writing in S1, I’d be very skeptical.
Squid Game Brazil, Squid Game Germany
A show taking the time to build a believable world doesn’t mean a cynical expanded universe “already exists.”
“The Squid Game universe has just begun.”This is the single sentence that has brought me closest to suicide.
Dear Netflix dude,We are already in the Squid Games universe. Fuck off with your dystopian ideation and think up some new ideas.
Listen, I’m one of many people who have been shouting the virtues of Korean tv and cinema for years, and one of the key characteristics of the mainstream Korean style is melodrama and ante-upping. That’s as it should be, in my view.
But I sort of think that doing a sequel to a perfectly self-contained bit of TV is almost certainly going to ruin it?
I thought a sequel was a bad idea already so this news is a real next-level bad omen.
Why can’t a thing just be its own thing. If Netflix loved this show and so did the folks watching then get the same creative teams together to come up with something new. No reason to milk a story that already ended
Because we have to franchise everything and make it a cinematic universe because moneyyyyy.Marvel perfected the cinematic universe and damned us all in the process.
I know its the movie business but you would think a work that is violently anti-capitalism would maybe not get turned into a franchise.Of course I feel like all the 20 year old streamers on Twitch that watched it and were like “I want to go to the Squid Games” really lost the point of the show. Personally I could not watch past episode 6. I read a summary of the rest of the season but I am glad I didn’t finish it. I am all for a stupid slasher flick and I love movies like Battle Royal but Squid Games scenerio was presented with zero humor or any tongue and cheek. It was just a depressing slog that just would get worse and worse. In 2021, I did not need that much gloom in my life
I’m excited to see if we get a stunt casting from an A-list American actor to clumsily deliver lines behind a gaudy mask.
Probably more like a C+ list actor. An Eric Roberts or Renee Zellweger level type.
This feels like it’s been confirmed at least six times now.
I’ve been expecting the quicky, knockoff, alleged “comedy” version of Squid Game from the clowns who’ve made things like Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans and The Starving Games for months now. I’m thinking Octopus Game or Cockroach Game.
Octopus Game, Lobster Game, Sea Cucumber Game… come on, how could this not make more, this shit basically writes itself.