Squid Game, a South Korean survival drama series, has earned a variety of accolades, with Lee Jung-jae becoming the first Korean actor to bag an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Seong Gi-Hun, a man who struggles to make ends meet. And with an announcement that Squid Game is coming back for Season 2, fans got another surprise when Netflix dropped an unreleased scene of "the man behind the survival game" from Season 1 of the South Korean breakout hit.
The final sneak peek presentation for Netflix's Korean lineup at the yearly TUDUM worldwide fan event featured an unreleased clip that at first showed the show's writer and director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, expressing gratitude to the series' fans. "I'd like to thank all the Netflix fans around the world again for loving Squid Game. Please look forward to season two, which will be filled with all-new stories," Hwang said in Korean, adding: "But in the meantime, I've prepared a small gift for the fans waiting for Squid Game Season 2."
The deleted footage shows the "shocking reveal of Front Man," the show's primary villain, carrying a goldfish. Although the significance of the goldfish or the clip is still unclear, it is likely it has a significant part in the second season of Squid Game.
The nine-episode series follows poverty-stricken players of a demented tournament in which players participate in various children's games. While it looks to be a normal competition, everyone who loses dies, and the last person who remains alive gets a massive monetary reward of ₩45.6 billion. The Korean drama was an instant hit, quickly becoming Netflix's most-watched original series of all time. It also made history earlier this month by becoming the first non-English-language program to win not just one but two Emmy Awards.
Besides Lee, Jung Ho-yeon, who played Kang Sae-byeok in the series, also received international recognition by winning an Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor SAG award. Other cast members include Park Hae-soo (The Legend of the Blue Sea), Wi Ha-joon (Midnight), Lee Yoo-Mi (All of Us Are Dead), Lee Byung-hun (I Saw the Devil), and Anupam Tripathi (Hospital Playlist).
Netflix is also launching Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality series that would gather 456 real-life players to battle for a monetary reward of $4.56 million—but without a bloodbath competition, of course. The highly-anticipated second season of Squid Game will begin production next year, with a projected 2024 premiere date. But, in the meantime, while fans are eager for more Squid Game content, they can watch the Season 1 unreleased clip below: