You may have heard of a little Korean Netflix series called Squid Game, which depicts a group of 456 people who are deep in debt and are invited to play a game in which they will end up either filthy rich or dead. Barely two weeks after its global release, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has projected that Squid Game is about to become the platform’s biggest show ever. After subscribers worldwide binge-watched the nine episodes of the dystopian drama, the inevitable question becomes what's next for the hit series?
Neither Netflix nor director/creator Hwang Dong-hyuk was prepared for Squid Game to become a global sensation, but now planning a Season 2 seems almost mandatory. It wouldn’t be hard to do, considering the series left enough loose ends to generate a sequel, but we might be in for a long wait.
Netflix’s Global TV head Bela Bajaria, however, is excited with the idea. In an interview with Vulture, she confessed nothing firm has been decided, but they are willing to work around Dong-hyuk’s schedule to make it happen:
“He has a film and other things he’s working on. We’re trying to figure out the right structure for him.”
By “right structure” she is referring to Dong-hyuk's self-confessed painful creative process. In a recent interview, the Korean series creator admitted it took him six months to work on just the first two episodes of Squid Game, and exhaustion took the best of him. So, going into Season 2, Dong-hyuk wants to work with a writer’s room and call several directors for different episodes.
This is not the first time that Netflix has expanded a concept that proved highly successful internationally. Spanish heist series Money Heist (La Casa de Papel) originally aired on Spanish network Antena 3, but then it was bought, rebranded as a Netflix Original, and as its popularity soared the story was extended to five seasons (or “parts”), the last of which is set to premiere next December. So having a global hit series like Squid Game to fill in the gap for Money Heist in 2022 might be a good way to keep subscribers and attract new ones.
You can stream all episodes of Squid Game on Netflix now. Check out the trailer for Season 1 below.