From Squid Game to reality entertainment

The games ain’t over yet. (Image: IndieWire)

A year after the South Korean drama’s release and subsequent rise to the top of Netflix’s charts, more Squid Game content is already on the way. 

It's unique in its premise: hundreds of impoverished competitors play children’s playground activities for an obscene amount of wealth. Oh, and they’re killed if they don’t make it through each stage. 

The success of the series has translated not only in streaming numbers but also in awards and global recognition. This year, Squid Game was nominated for 16 Emmy Awards, and won six. 

Lead actor Lee Jung-jae, who recently became the very first Asian actor to win outstanding lead actor in a drama series, thanked director Hwang Dong-hyuk for “making a realistic problem we all face come to life so creatively on the screen” during his acceptance speech.

Hwang, who won an Emmy himself for outstanding director in a drama series, had previously shared that the series reflects the “competitive society” we live in today. “This is a story about losers," he told CNN. Those who struggle through the challenges of everyday life and get left behind, while the "winners level up."

However, this self-awareness has been critiqued for making such a twisted depiction of capitalism amusing to viewers. Daniel D’Addario of Variety wrote, “In relishing fictional death, the viewer of this series is told he’s doing something virtuous. And in enjoying gruesomeness while also tut-tutting at a system that would create such gruesomeness and rooting for its takedown, that viewer is experiencing a double pleasure, a sense of enjoying a show while also perching above it that ends up being the most complicated thing about Squid Game.”

Red light, green light

That review of the series seems to have aged well because a second season and a reality spinoff have already been greenlit by Netflix.

Season two, set to be released in 2024, is also said to be making some major changes. For one, fans can expect the main character, Seong Gi-hun, to be a different guy. Hwang described him at the end of the first season as more serious, so his character will be more set to go for revenge when the series picks back up. 

Hwang also said that he faced a “dilemma” for reviving dead characters and that he’s thinking about what he should do moving forward. “So many characters died, especially beloved ones. I’m sorry I killed them so easily; I didn’t know this was coming,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Squid Game: The Challenge is officially set to let 456 real players participate in games inspired by the original show—all for a life-changing prize of $4.56 million. 

Weirdly enough, in an Emmy Winners press conference, it was also revealed that major Hollywood actors—including super fan Leonardo DiCaprio—could appear in the series if a third season is created. This is made possible by a significant increase in the team’s budget for season two. 

Oh, the irony

Mixed reactions to these announcements ensued almost immediately, with many fans claiming that new Squid Game content would be against their own ideas on poverty and exploitation. “Capitalism moment,” one Twitter user replied to a post about Netflix’s call for players.

Originally a fable that reflects life under modern capitalism, the show being turned into reality entertainment and possibly being milked for streams may not even be surprising anymore. There’s no escape from the money-chasing machine, after all. 

In response to the criticism, Hwang urged fans not to “take things too seriously,” as it’s “really not the best way to go for the entertainment industry.” He then added that “reproductions of such efforts are going to bring new meaning to the industry, and I hope that this is going to be a great new direction for the industry overall.”

On a hopeful note, there’s definitely a possibility that new Squid Game content could take its hyperbolic representation of capitalism a step further and enlighten more people about its dangers. On the other hand, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s developed and released for consumption under that very same system.