Cover Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’ Photo: (No Ju-han/Netflix)
Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’ Photo: (No Ju-han/Netflix)
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The season two premiere of Netflix’s groundbreaking South Korean drama, ‘Squid Game: Season 2’, is fast approaching. Are you ready to play again?
Coming to take the world by storm again (as it did in 2021) is Squid Game’s highly anticipated second season, Squid Game: Season 2. Set to premiere in December 2024, the second instalment promises to push the boundaries of psychological thriller entertainment while taking audiences even deeper into the dark world of its deadly competition.
Read more: Netflix: The making of ‘Squid Game’, the global sensation
Season one was 12 years in the making but it took just 12 days to become Netflix’s most popular series ever, thanks to the creative mind behind the series, writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk. With all eyes on the upcoming Squid Game: Season 2, the world is excited to see if it’ll live up to its predecessor’s reputation.
Here’s everything you need to know about what’s coming for you in the next season.
Above The main trailer for ‘Squid Game: Season 2’
The comeback
Squid Game: Season 2 will see the return of writer and director Hwang to helm the show. The cast includes returning members Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, and Wi Ha-jun. Jung-jae returns as Seong Gi-hun aka Player 456 while Byung-hun masks up once more as the mysterious Front Man whose true motivations remain cloaked in secrecy.
Meanwhile, Wi Ha-jun returns as police detective Hwang Jun-ho, who survived the fall from Squid Game: Season 1, and drives the narrative forward as the relentless detective on a mission to expose the operations. Not forgetting, Hallyu superstar Gong Yoo also comes back as the salesman who recruits Squid Game participants.
See also: Emmy Awards 2022: Full nominations list; ‘Squid Game’ makes history
Brief glimpses from the main Squid Game: Season 2 trailer hint at a horde of new Squid Game contestants vying to win the KRW45.6 billion prize. Expect to see some familiar faces from the Korean entertainment circuit such as:
- Im Si-wan (ZE:A member)
- Kang Ha-neul (Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo)
- Park Sung-hoon (The Glory, Queen of Tears)
- Jo Yu-ri (former Iz*One member)
- Choi Seung-hyun (former Bigbang member T.O.P)
- Park Gyu-young (It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, Celebrity)
And many more will bring their own compelling narratives to the toxic Squid Game arena.
Above Jo Yu-ri as Kim Jun-hee in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’
Above Jo Yu-ri as Kim Jun-hee and Im Si-wan as Lee Myung-gi in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’
Jo Yu-ri as Kim Jun-hee in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’
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The plot
You can bet your bottom dollar (or in this case, won) that Squid Game: Season 2 will raise the stakes.
While the first season focused on cash-strapped contestant (like the other 455 players) Seong Gi-hun and how he survives and leaves the brutal competition a winner all while pocketing KRW5.6 billion, Squid Game: Season 2 will focus on the aftermath of the games.
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The second season takes place three years after Seong or Player 456 wins Squid Game, gives up on going to the US, and comes back with a new resolution. He once again joins Squid Game bearing scars from the past games, but his eyes are not on the prize of KRW45.6 billion. Seong goes on a desperate mission to expose the deadly truth of the competition. Seong would actively interrupt the rules by spoiling the Red Light, Green Light’s mechanics to the new participants, forcing the Front Man to overhaul the tournament.
Regardless, Seong’s warnings go unheeded and tensions rise as fellow players question his intentions.
Above Lee Byung-hun as Front Man in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’
Above Wi Ha-jun as Hwang Jun-ho in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’
Lee Byung-hun as Front Man in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’
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The set up
The life-or-death competition will include some games from Squid Game: Season 1. However, Seong’s valiant but unsuccessful attempt to derail it will see the Front Man shaking things up. This means that Seong’s prior knowledge of the games won’t give him any advantage over the competition and make it home (and alive) as the winner.
So, expect more gripping, heart-pounding tension in new morbid versions of traditional South Korean children’s games where the only catch of losing the game is death.
Read more: ‘Squid Game Season 2’: What will the set design look like?
Aside from its trademark red-and-green aesthetic returning to haunt viewers, there will also be new visual elements to amplify the series’ blend of suspense and drama. Additionally, Hwang also teased that Squid Game: Season 2 will feature Italian songs: Giacomo Puccini’s Nessun Dorma from the opera Turandot and Time to Say Goodbye (aka Con te partirò) performed by Andrea Bocelli.
As the games begin anew, one question remains: who will survive this time?
Above Gong Yoo as the salesman in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’
Above Yang Dong-geun as Park Yong-sik and Kang Ae-sim as Jang Geum-ja in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’
Gong Yoo as the salesman in ‘Squid Game: Season 2’
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Squid Game: Season 2 will air on Netflix on December 26, 2024.
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Images: No Ju-han/Netflix
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Lainey was the Digital Director of Tatler Malaysia. When not whiling away the hours watching documentaries, the latest K-drama, or reruns of Friends, she can be found indulging her wanderlust by stalking travel platforms or feeding her obsession with music. She loves animals, running, all things social media, a good conversation over coffee or soju or wine (often rambling on if nobody pulls the brakes on her), and is an avid fan of bursting-at-the-seams laughter.
