Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has confirmed that season 2 of the hit Netflix show will feature more perilous puzzles.
“Humanity is going to be put to a test through those games once again,” Hwang said of the series' return in a recent interview with Vanity Fair. “I want to ask the question, ‘Is true solidarity between humans possible?'”
While Squid Game season 2 was officially renewed by Netflix back in January, it wasn’t clear until now whether new episodes would see protagonist Gi-hun returning to the mysterious facility at the heart of the show’s debut season.
Vanity Fair also reports that Hwang “only has about three pages’ worth of ideas that he plans to turn into a script” for season 2 right now, adding that new episodes aren’t likely to arrive on Netflix until the end of 2023 at the earliest.
Squid Game took the world by storm in 2021, inspiring everything from real-life robot dolls to amateur video game adaptations on its way to becoming the biggest show in Netflix history (after just 28 days, the series racked up an unprecedented 1.6 billion viewing hours on the streamer).
In doing so, the survival series also quite literally changed the game for how Netflix measures the success of its movies and TV shows. Following Squid Game’s popularity, the streaming service shifted away from the two-minute-per-view metric it had previously used to instead record the total hours watched within a title’s first month of release.
It’s no wonder, then, that Netflix decided to green-light the show’s return earlier this year. At the time, co-CEO Ted Sarandos was quoted as saying that "the Squid Game universe has just begun,” so we don’t expect season 2 to be the series’ last, either.
Major spoilers for Squid Game season 1 follow.
As for what story new episodes will tell, the most likely plot thread to explore is Gi-hun’s quest for revenge against the games’ mysterious organizers. Hwang’s latest comments add fuel to that fire, but the creator has also expressed an interest in delving deeper into the relationship between the Front Man, In-ho, and his brother, Jun-hon. We could see more of the recruiter, too. For more on these potential storylines, head over to our dedicated hub.
In any case, it looks like we’ll be waiting a few years to find out Gi-hun’s fate. The slow progress comes as a result of Hwang’s ongoing involvement in other projects – the director is currently working on a new movie, Killing Old People Club, which, Hwang says, won’t be one for the squeamish.
"It will be more violent than Squid Game," Hwang revealed in an April interview with Variety, adding that Killing Old People Club is sure to be “another controversial film.”
To ease the wait for Squid Game season 2, then, check out our breakdown of the Squid Game ending, which poses big questions about what to expect from the show’s highly-anticipated second season.
