Fans of survival drama Squid Game, the first Korean show to top Netflix’s most-watched shows chart globally, will have to wait for a while for a sequel as its creator has no plans for a follow-up. For now.
“I don’t have well developed plans for Squid Game 2,” Hwang Dong-hyuk, who also wrote and directed the hit show, told Variety. “It is quite tiring just thinking about it. But if I were to do it, I would certainly not do it alone. I’d consider using a writers’ room and would want multiple experienced directors.”
The nine-part series, which focuses on a group of people from all walks of life playing a series of deadly games for a chance to win 45.6 billion South Korean won (about $38 million), has been a runaway hit for Netflix since it premiered on September 21.
On Monday, while unveiling a list of its most popular content at an event in Los Angeles, chief executive Ted Sarandos said Squid Game was well on its way to becoming the streaming platform's most-watched show ever.
Kitschy period drama Bridgerton currently holds that position, with more than 82 million accounts watching the show. Extraction, starring Chris Hemsworth, is the most popular film, at 99 million.
Sequels of both Bridgerton and Extraction are in the works.
Hwang, who first conceived the idea for Squid Game as a feature film in 2018, said he was heavily inspired by Japanese comics.
“When I started, I was in financial straits myself and spent much time in cafes reading comics including Battle Royale and Liar Game. I came to wonder how I’d feel if I took part in the games myself. But I found the games too complex, and for my own work focused instead on using kids’ games,” he told Variety.
The writer and director has many acclaimed films to his credit, including the 2011 sexual abuse film The Crucibles (Silenced) and 2014’s Miss Granny, one of the highest-grossing Korean films of all time and remade in seven other countries.
He credited Squid Game’s appeal to its "simplicity and easily relatable characters”.
“As a survival game it is entertainment and human drama," he told the industry publication. "The games portrayed are extremely simple and easy to understand. That allows viewers to focus on the characters, rather than being distracted by trying to interpret the rules.
"I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life. But I wanted it to use the kind of characters we’ve all met in real life.”
