Netflix’s Squid Game has been a global sensation from its release and it continues to live up to the hype with a reality show arriving on the same platform. The dystopian thriller remains to be one of the top series to watch on Netflix. If you’re already excited for more, here’s all that you need to know about Squid Game Season 2.
Squid Game released on Netflix in September 2021 and since then, the series has been a worldwide phenomenon. The show holds the biggest series ever launched on Netflix. The #SquidGame on TikTok had more than 27.5 billion views in just weeks.
Squid Game’s story follows 456 people who joined to compete in six games over the course of six days to win $38 million. These people have serious debt issues and they fight for their lives as they vie for the grand prize. Unfortunately, for those who lost, their lives are also the cost after they face gruesome deaths.
The series is written and directed by Hwang Don-hyuk, who spoke to Vanity Fair as regards the creation of Squid Game, "People were telling me that it's too unrealistic. What seemed so unrealistic at the time didn't feel as unrealistic any more." With the huge success of the series, Netflix renewed the show for another installment. Netflix officially announced Season 2 in June 2022.
Here's everything you know about Squid Game 2 so far, including a release date speculation, plot, cast, and the latest updates for the highly-anticipated South Korean thriller.
Squid Game Season 2 Release Date Speculation
Squid Game Season 2 has no release date yet. What Netflix released is only a teaser and a confirmation that the show has been renewed for another installment. In June 2022, fans of Squid Game rejoiced upon seeing the announcement and the cast announcement of the show. With the current track of the production, viewers may have to wait until 2024 or possibly longer than that for the series to arrive on Netflix.
Looking at the pattern between Squid Game Season 1 and Squid Game: The Challenge, the reality show took two years before releasing on Netflix. In February 2023, Lee Byung Hun, who plays the Front Man, shared the filming schedule of Squid Game Season 2 with All KPop:
Squid Game 2' will begin filming in the summer and the filming will likely last for about 10 months. We were working on season 1 for about 10 months as well, but that was with delays caused by COVID-19. But seeing as season 2 will be bigger in scale, it will probably take longer to complete.
Summer in South Korea starts from July and ends in August, looking at the statement of Lee Byung Hun, should the production of Squid Game Season 2 push through as scheduled, the earliest possible release of the sequel could be in July 2024. Still, considering post-production and the wider scale of the series, its release could be in mid to late-2024 up to 2025. With the upcoming Netflix Geeked Week 2023, many are expecting to receive an update as to when Squid Game Season 2 would be scheduled for release.
Who are the cast of Squid Game Season 2?
In June 2023, Netflix released a clip of the cast announcement for Squid Game Season 2. The cast of the series attended the first table read for the show. Director, writer, and executive producer Hwang Dong-hyuk spearheaded the event.
Hwang Dong-hyuk spoke to The Korea Times regarding the renewal of the series saying, "I'm in talks with Netflix over season 2 as well as season 3. We will come to a conclusion any time soon." With this confirmation of the director and writer of the show, it could also be expected that Squid Game Season 3 is also in talks which means that there is more to come for the series.
The confirmed cast members for Squid Game Season 2 are confirmed by Netflix through a cast announcement video and a press release. The cast members returning from the first film are Assassination's Lee Jung Jae as Seong Gi-hun, Mr. Sunshine's Lee Byung Hun as Front Man, and Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum's Wi Ha-jun as Hwang Jun-ho. Train to Busan's Gong Yoo, the Salesman, will be coming back, too.
New players to arrive on Squid Game Season 2 are Yim Si-Wan (The Attorney), Kang Ha-Neul (The Heirs), Park Sung-Hoon (Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum), and Yang Dong-Geun (Grand Prix). Also included in the cast of Squid Game Season 2 are Hwang In-ho (Spellbound), Park Gyu-Young (It's Okay Not To Be Okay), Jo Yu-Ri of girl group Iz*One, Kang Ae-Sim (Diary of a Prosecutor), Lee David (Itaewon Class), Lee Jin-Uk (Sweet Home), Choi Seung-Hyun (Commitment), Roh Jae-Won (Missing Yoon), and Won Ji-An (D.P.).
What is the plot of Squid Game Season 2?
Warning! This portion contains spoilers for Squid Game. Read at your own risk.
Squid Game ended with a window open for Season 2 where Gi-hun is at the airport while holding a life-altering card. Before he boarded the plane, he made a call where he heard the same voice again, mentioning his name and birthday. This angered Gi-hun but the Front Man cut the call and advised Gi-Hun to hop on his flight.
However, Gi-hun had enough of the Front Man already. This time, he would not be backing down. Gi-hun turns his back with a new flame inside of him wanting to stop the game. With that, Squid Game Season 2 is expected to follow Seong Gi-Hun rocking his new red hair as he attempts to bring down those who are behind Squid Game.
Gi-Hun will not only face the challenge of taking down the people behind the game but also the fact that he remained in Korea instead of being in the US with his daughter. Whoever runs the game is expected to be revealed in the series. Gi-Hun will now take it to the roots and dismantle it from there.
Speaking with People, Lee Jung-jae shared that details to the plot of Squid Game Season 2 remains under wraps, even to them. It is only Hwang Dong-Hyuk who knows the entirety of what will happen, and those who work close to the director, writer, and executive producer. Lee Jung-jae said:
I have no idea what will happen or the scale of it, but the only thing [director Hwang] did tell me was that Seong Gi-hun is going to be in the show again, and he’s going to be playing in the arena again.
The director and writer of the series, Hwang Dong-hyuk, confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that Gi-Hun will return in Squid Game Season 2 saying:
I'm not really in the right place to be discussing season 2 in an official setting, but if there were to be a season 2, in the first season that we saw Gi-hun is a character whose humanity is shown through or exposed in certain situations. In other words, his humanity is shown through a very passive manner. But I would think that in the second season, what he has learned from the games and his experience in the first season, they will all be put to use in a more active manner.
Wi Ha-Jun, the actor who plays Hwang Jun-ho in Squid Game teased what happens to his character in Season 2 to Deadline:
I'm dying to know what happened to him. I want him to return alive, find his brother and ask him tons of questions. As a brother, I would ask him sincerely as a detective, I want to explore the overall secrets behind the game as well. I really hope to see Jun-ho come back alive and explore all these questions, I hope to see a more brotherly-love side of their relationship as well.
From the cast members themselves, Squid Game Season 2 is expected to be a lot bigger than the first installment of the series. Aside from the game itself, there is that aspect that Gi-Hun would want to bring down those behind Squid Game which makes a great change for the second run of the series as compared to the first. New players are also lined up to join the challenge to put a new twist in Squid Game Season 2.
Is there a trailer for Squid Game Season 2?
While there is no official trailer yet for Squid Game Season 2, a teaser was released by Netflix when the show was renewed for another run. A cast announcement video, as attached above, was also unveiled by Netflix to reveal who will be the new participants of the game. Currently, Squid Game: The Challenge has a trailer and the challenges are extreme!
Squid Game Season 2 has no release date yet but the show is already confirmed to arrive on Netflix soon. For now, Squid Game: The Challenge comes out on the streaming platform on November 22, 2023.
Stay tuned on EpicFlix for more exciting news and updates on Squid Game Season 2.
