Game Changer: “Squid Game” Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk on his Audacious Ambitions for Seasons 2 & 3

Squid Game is a provocative experiment not only in strategy and skill, but also in the addictive pursuit of risking it all – even death – for a big win. Ironically, the show’s episodes are equally addictive, and fans demanded more after the innovative first season. Series creator, writer, and director Hwang Dong-hyuk didn’t intend to return to the intense filming schedule, but demand drove him to continue the captivating competition. Season 2 introduces new games, new opportunities, and new insights into the sinister operations.

“Obviously, it was longer hours than creating a film, and it was very challenging, to say the least. So, honestly speaking, after doing season one, I thought, ‘I will never do a series like this again. It’s not humanly possible,” Hwang admitted. “As we all know, the show got so much love globally, so I took on the challenge once again to do seasons 2 and 3 all by myself, both writing and directing. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of any other option.”

Season 1 survivor Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) has spent years and a portion of his prize winnings on efforts to locate and dismantle the operation. He enlists his former loan shark, Mr. Kim (Kim Pub-lae), and his men to locate the Recruiter (Gong Yoo). Although elusive, he reappears, conning new and desperate players down on their luck. Director Hwang sees alarming patterns in modern society that are mirrored in the show’s themes of gambling and desperation.

The season premiere, “Bread and Lottery,” is a ruthless reminder of the Recruiter’s principles and his commitment to the bloody game. He orchestrates a malicious experiment offering homeless patrons in a park daily bread or a lottery ticket. Nearly all the players opt for the tickets and end up empty-handed.

“I think that this is a phenomenon that we see – and I have observed firsthand in Korea, but this is not only limited to Korea – globally, less and less people believe that hard work and earnest daily labor will ever lead to their lives becoming better,” Hwang noted. “It doesn’t guarantee better later years in life. Less and less people have hopes of becoming homeowners just by daily hard work. I think so many people are driven into an anxious and insecure state these days because of that.”

Throughout the series, the Squid Game organizers target people financially strained by gambling debts, failed investments, or even medical needs that are beyond their budget. Some characters have squandered their savings, while others seek the prize money to improve their lives, despite society having put roadblocks in their way.

“People are driven by wanting to hit a lucky strike,” Hwang observed. “They want to become rich overnight. It’s driving people to stand in lines at lottery ticket places. It’s leading people to invest without much thinking in stocks, cryptocurrency, and gambling. People dream of climbing up the social ladder and becoming somebody different overnight. What’s even worse is that this is something that we see more and more in the younger generation. To put it bluntly, it is really quite ruining the younger generation. When I wrote the ‘Lottery ticket vs. Bread’ episode, I had kind of wanted it to serve as a wake-up call to that phenomenon.”

The whimsical, youthful spaces that lulled players into a false sense of security return this season. Gi-hun is back in the arena and despite his warnings, the new crop of competitors devise callous strategies to win. The straightforward objectives of the children’s games bolster the confidence of the more brazen participants like newcomer Thanos (Choi Seung-hyun). To subvert Gi-hun’s expectations, the organizers introduce new games, “Pentathlon” and “Mingle”.

“Unlike other survival game genres, we knew that we wanted to create a very beautiful, childlike space,” Hwang explained. “Then, when the violence was to take place against that backdrop, I knew that it would maximize the contrast and thereby also amplify the shock factor. That’s why you see the sets like the school yard for the ‘Pentathlon’ and the merry-go-round for ‘Mingle’ creating this very dreamlike space, then having these brutalities take place.”

Hwang sees the brutal consequences of being executed for a loss as a reflection of the way modern society treats people facing difficult times.

“I think that extreme contrast also allows us to think about how we go through daily life. It’s actually filled with competition that leads to a lot of ‘losers’ in the game. A lot of people who are eliminated, so to speak, from the game, but we go on as if we don’t really see them,” Hwang said. “However, to those who have lost at the game, it is extremely brutal. I kind of wanted that contrast to serve as this contrast that actually takes place in the real world.”

The most challenging game to film, Hwang says, was the ‘Pentahlon.’ In teams of five, players must walk around a track with their legs tied together and complete a series of challenges before time runs out. With two active tracks and a circle of spectators, Hwang devised a complicated series of shots. In addition to watching the gameplay, the deception and manipulation of the Front Man (Lee Byung-Hun) increase the tension.

“Having to shoot two games at the same time, to what degree do I want each game to be played out at a particular moment in time. All of those decisions had to be made,” Hwang explained. “For each track, there are those that play the game, and then the people that are sitting and watching the game, and it has to move gradually, where they would converse with one another. These small actions show us that they’re gradually becoming more and more involved in the game. So, having to orchestrate all of that as two sets of different players and two sets of people that are sitting and watching, having to orchestrate all four elements because it’s track A and B at the same time, was extremely challenging.”

For those scouring the scenes for hidden clues, Hwang has ruled out an Easter egg in this scene. The number of players in this round happens to be 365 – the same number of days in a year – but he pointed out that it was a coincidence. However, it did make for a huge crowd to coordinate.

“There were more than 300 actors on the site,” he noted. “While it is one game in round two, there are five games in this round. So, as a director, this was the most challenging sequence all throughout.”

Hwang wrote and directed every single episode of the series. Season 2 and the upcoming final season were all filmed over 11 months, making the physical and creative demands immense. Although he has wielded this kind of artistic control throughout his career, the scale of Squid Game was an unprecedented challenge. The two final seasons were filmed over an intense 200 days.

“I just went into it thinking, ‘I’m now in a boot camp in hell. Let’s just go through it,” Hwang laughed. “Looking back on it now, I don’t know how we did it.”

Squid Game season 3 hits Netflix June 27.

Featured image:Squid Game S2 (L to R) Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, Lee Byung-hun as Hwang In-ho, Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game S2 Cr. No Ju-han/Netflix © 2024