After much speculation, Squid Game is definitely coming back for a second season, Netflix has said.
“And now, Gi-hun returns,” director, writer and executive producer Hwang Dong-hyuk wrote in a letter to fans. “The Front Man returns. Season 2 is coming.”
The wildly popular, multi-award-winning, nine-episode South Korean show — one of the streaming platform's most-watched — follows a group of 456 debt-ridden contestants who are placed in an arena where they compete in a series of deathly children's games until one emerges as the winner of a $38.5 million prize.
Hwang teased new characters and developments in his letter for season two.
“The man in the suit with ddakji might be back,” he wrote, referring to the mysterious man who recruits players.
Viewers will also meet Cheol-su, the “boyfriend” of Young-hee, the show's much-recognisable animatronic doll.
She appears in the new 10-second teaser trailer Netflix also released on Sunday.
Season two of the show has been talked about before.
Earlier this year Hwang told Deadline he had yet to start the script, but that it was in the pipeline.
“There will be more great games, that’s all I can say,” Hwang said in an interview with the entertainment news website. “I’m just still brainstorming and collecting the ideas for season two. I haven’t even started with the writing yet.”
He confirmed that Lee Jung-jae will return in season two as the main character, Seong Gi-hun.
He also hinted that he could find creative ways to bring back past characters such as HoYeon Jung who played Kang Sae-byeok, aka Player 067, during the Producers Guild Awards.
“I’ll try something to bring them back to season two,” Hwang said. “Let’s say maybe [Kang] has a twin sister; you’ll see.”
The first season of the show debuted in September 2021 and became a global phenomenon. It was the top-watched show in 94 countries, with more than 142 million households tuning in to watch it and 1.65 billion viewing hours recorded during its first four weeks.
It gave rise to trends across the world, as event organisers emulated the challenges, albeit in a less deadly way, and restaurants started serving up dalgona, the sweet served up for one of the games in the show.
The impact on equity investors in South Korea also proved equally intense.
Real-life 'Squid Game' in Abu Dhabi — in pictures
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Mohamed as The Front Man, left, with a guard during the Squid Game event at the Korean Cultural Centre at twofour54 in Abu Dhabi. All Photos: Victor Besa / The National -
The Squid Game event was held only over one day and featured 15 participants competing against one another in two sessions at the Korean Cultural Centre -
Players who did not successfully complete the challenge get 'shot' with soft sponge toy guns to signal their elimination -
In the dalgona game, players tried to cut out a preset shape in the honeycomb toffee without breaking it -
Players were required to sign a paper agreeing to the rules before beginning the games – just like in the show -
The guards kept their eyes on everyone -
The honeycomb toffee game, also known as the dalgona game, has become a viral trend on its own -
A Squid Game guard holds up the South Korean and UAE flags at the Korean Cultural Centre -
The Korean Cultural Centre presented players with the same card as seen on the hit show -
Tin boxes with snacks were distributed to players after the Squid Game event -
Players begin playing green light, red light at the Korean Cultural Centre -
Two players face off to play Ttakji during the Squid Game event at the Korean Cultural Centre -
Two other players compete in a marble game to see who can get their marble closest to the circle -
Nam Chan-woo, director of the Korean Cultural Centre, before the start of the Squid Game event -
Players get ready to play green light, red liight -
Those who were eliminated had to put on skull stickers over the numbers on their shirt -
The Korean Cultural Centre's version of glass stepping stones mean that players had to guess the right combination of numbers to cross over -
The guards for the Squid Game event at the Korean Cultural Centre -
A player takes a photo ahead of the event at the Korean Cultural Centre
