Netflix show Squid Game has announced a second season is “in the planning process.”
In an interview with the Associated Press, Hwang said “there’s been so much pressure, so much demand and so much love for a second season. So I almost feel like you leave us no choice! But I will say there will indeed be a second season. It’s in my head right now.”
“But I do think it’s too early to say when and how that’s going to happen. So I will promise you this… Gi-Hun will come back, and he will do something for the world. The nine-episode Korean drama did insanely well for Netflix, becoming one of the most popular shows ever for the streaming service. Tyler wrote when the show was beginning to hit its peak, the show feels super inspired by Battle Royale, a 2000 movie that would eventually become the foundation for games like Fortnite and PUBG.
It only makes sense, then, that Squid Game has also inspired a wave of videogame clones. Netflix Asia executive Minyoung Kim says a Squid Game videogame is being considered, THR reports. Can’t say I’m shocked since Netflix says Squid Game is on the way to being its most-watched show ever, beating The Witcher’s reported viewership of 76 million.
Kim spoke with THR about the runaway success of Squid Game, the Korean battle royale drama that follows a group of debt-ridden social outcasts who sign away their lives to participate in a giant competition for the equivalent of about $39 million USD. The catch is that anyone who fails a challenge is immediately killed, usually by a casually administered headshot courtesy of the masked guards working for the shadowy organization running the whole show.
Kim said that Netflix is currently looking at what comes next for the Squid Game IP. The streaming giant is looking at a potential videogame adaptation plus “consumer products,” a fancy word for merchandise. Netflix and Squid Game’s director and producer are still in talks about a season 2, but Kim tempered expectations by reminding fans that the show only launched a month ago.
I feel that the way that Squid Game ended the first season, I am personally excited to see that there is a second season. Kim didn’t provide any speculation on what a game adaptation of Squid Game might look like. The show itself pits characters against one another (and occasionally teamed together) in colorful, surreal contests typically based on Korean kid’s games. When the show launched and its masked guards caught everyone’s eye, a frequent comparison was Mediatonic’s Fall Guys, where cartoony humanoids charge through obstacle courses or get knocked off platforms to their doom.
The battle royale genre is battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that blends last-man-standing gameplay with the survival, exploration, and scavenging elements of a survival game. Battle royale games involve dozens to hundreds of players, who start with minimal equipment and then must eliminate all other opponents while avoiding being trapped outside of a shrinking “safe area” or “safe zone”, with the winner being the last player or team alive.
It’s not a sure thing that Netflix will commission a Squid Game game at all, of course, but I’d bet that we’re not making it through the end of the year without some CEO saying the phrase “Squid Game metaverse.”