“You still do not see, do you? The game will not end unless the world changes.”
Credit: Netflix
The 2021 Korean series Squid Game was a massive hit for Netflix, racking up 1.65 billion viewing hours in its first four weeks and snagging 14 Emmy nominations. Fans have been longing for a second season ever since, and we’re finally getting it this year for Christmas. Netflix just released the official trailer.
(Spoilers for S1 below.)
The first season followed Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae, seen earlier this year in The Acolyte), a down-on-his-luck gambler who has little left to lose when he agrees to play children’s playground games against 455 other players for money. The twist? If you lose a game, you die. If you cheat, you die. And if you win, you might also die.
“The grotesque spectacle of Squid Game is where it gets most of its appeal, but it resonates because of how relatable Gi-hun and the rest of the game’s contestants are,” Ars Senior Technology Reporter Andrew Cunningham wrote in our 2021 year-end TV roundup. “Alienated from society and each other, driven by guilt or shame or pride or desperation, each of the players we get to know is inescapably human, which is why Squid Game is more than just a gory sideshow.
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In the S1 finale, Gi-hun faced off against fellow finalist and childhood friend Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) in the titular “squid game.” He won their fight but refused to kill his friend, begging Sang-woo to stop the game by invoking a special clause in their contract whereby they get to live—but do not get the prize money. Sang-woo instead stabbed himself in the neck and asked Gi-hun to take care of his mother. Wracked with guilt, Gi-hun was about to fly to America to live with his daughter when he spotted the game recruiter trying to entice another desperate person. He didn’t get on the plane, deciding instead to try and re-enter the game and take it down from the inside.
Lee is obviously returning for S2, along with Wi Ha-joon as Det. Hwang Jun-ho and Lee Byung-hun as the mysterious Front Man—later revealed to be Jun-ho’s missing brother, Hawang In-ho. Per the official premise:
“Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 gave up going to the States and comes back with a new resolution in his mind. Gi-hun once again dives into the mysterious survival game, starting another life-or-death game with new participants gathered to win the prize of 45.6 billion won.”
“Whether you shoot people in there or con them outside it doesn’t change anything,” Gi-hun says in a voiceover as the trailer opens. We see him in a limo asking Front Man, via speaker, to put him back in the game. His wish is granted, and we find ourselves in the familiar surreal setting whose childlike bright pastel colors are so at odds with the deadly nature of the various games.
Hwang has said that the games this season will also be simple children’s games from his Korean childhood but would be more universally recognized, since many different countries play similar games. Red Light/Green Light’s iconic giant killer doll makes a welcome appearance, as well as what looks like a perverse twist on tic-tac-toe. Amidst mortal danger and scheming rivals, can Gi-hun fulfill his mission of taking down the game from the inside?
The second season of Squid Game premieres on Netflix on December 26, 2024. It has already been renewed for a third and final season.
