Squid Game creator shares shocking reason to bring Netflix hit back for second season

Netflix’s Squid Game is back for its much-anticipated Season 2 and creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has shared the surprising motivation behind its return.

It may come as a surprise to some, but Hwang faced financial struggles despite the first season becoming Netflix’s most-watched non-English series with a staggering 2.1 billion viewing hours.

In a candid admission, he revealed earning little from the show’s success, even suffering severe stress during production, which led to the loss of “eight or nine teeth.”

In an interview with the BBC, Dong-hyuk explained that the main reason he agreed to a second season was simply money.

He said, “Even though the first series was such a huge global success, honestly, I didn’t make much.”

“So doing the second series will help compensate me for the success of the first one too.”

He also added, “And I didn’t fully finish the story.”

Netflix officially renewed  Squid Game for its second season, with the much-anticipated first trailers released earlier this year. 

In the first season, while all the participants technically chose to join the games, it was clear they did so because their lives outside the games were either unbearable or likely to be cut short.

Earlier, Dong-hyuk also confirmed that Squid Game will wrap up with its third season, marking the end of Seong Gi-hun’s story. 

In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, the creator shared that he wrote Seasons 2 and 3 together, with a major plot twist linking the two.

According to Hwang, Season 3 feels like the natural conclusion that allows him to fully explore and complete Gi-hun’s journey. 

He said, “When I was thinking about the idea for the ending of season three, I think it sort of naturally came to me that this was the finale.”

He also added, “I believed that with that story, I was able to tell everything that I wanted to tell through the story of Squid Game and also in the perspective of Gi-hun as a character, and I thought that we don’t need any further stories from here.”

Season 2, which premieres on December 26, 2024, follows Seong Gi-hun’s relentless mission to take down the shadowy organization behind the deadly games. It picks up three years after the first season’s dramatic finale.

Fan-favourite actors Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, and Wi Ha-jun return for season 2, joined by new cast members Yim Si-wan and Kang Ha-neul.