The deaths of characters on Squid Game, Netflix’s global sensation, have made viewers gasp, cringe, or cry. Yet, they have a rather different effect on one person. The show’s creator, writer, and director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, feels happiness seeing them go.
In a recent interview with AP, the filmmaker opened up on the new season of the global hit, what season 3 holds in store, and his future plans. (Also read: Squid Game season 2 Twitter reviews: Gong Yoo’s acting skills are ‘insane’, say fans of the ‘engaging’ series)
Why Squid Game creator is happy when characters die
Squid Game has a huge cast and Hwang says it was “really difficult” to manage everyone on set. As characters would die, Hwang recalls saying to the actors on their last day, “‘Oh no! How sad! I won’t see you tomorrow,’ but I was always smiling inside.”
Squid Game season two premiered on Netflix this Thursday. It once again stars Lee Jung-jae and centers around a secret competition in South Korea that targets people in debt and the winner gets a big cash prize. What they don’t know is that losing the game is deadly.
Talking about what he learnt from his journey on Squid Game, the filmmaker said, “I learned that I shouldn’t give up. If you love something and if you want to create something, it might not work now, but the time might come later. Or that idea could be the source of inspiration for something else.”
Season 2 features more characters and consequently more backstories. Opening up and the need and challenges of that, Hwang says, “When I was creating season one, I thought it was very hard for you to be up to your neck in debt when you’re only in your 20s or 30s. I thought you had to be at least middle-aged to need money and want to join the Squid Game. But the world has changed. Now, I feel like there are fewer decent jobs for young people, and they feel like working hard doesn’t even get them into the middle class. They want to hit the jackpot, so that’s why they invest in cryptocurrency. In Korea, there are a lot of young people in their early 20s or 30s turning to online gambling. I wanted to show what society really is like today.”
Hwang on life after Squid Game
Season two of Squid Game has already been nominated for a Golden Globe. But Hwang says season 2 is ‘better’.
Now, the filmmaker hopes to move on to feature filmmaking. Talking about his next project after the show, the Korean filmmaker says, “I’m afraid to talk about it but it’s a feature film taking place 10-20 years in the future. It’s darker than “Squid Game.” It’s going to be quite cruel, quite sad, but at the same time quite quirky and humorous.”