Just in time for late-stage capitalism’s Christmas hangover, Netflix will drop the second season of Squid Game. The pandemic-era hit show garnered Emmy acclaim with wins for leading man Lee Jung-jae (The Acolyte) and its director Hwang Dong-hyuk. Hwang, who also created the show, took some time to develop the rest of the vision for Squid Game as the first season was inspired by the Korean financial crisis, and the continued social economical unrest in the wake of a global pandemic served as the basis of seasons two and three.
In an interview with Deadline, Hwang discussed how the global events that have transpired since the series became a hit really brought out more of the discourse he explored in his original concept. “Do we have the willpower and strength to try to make the world a better place? Does humanity have what it takes to change the course of the world, and can we truly let go of our greed, our desires in order to create a better world together? Those were some of the questions that I wanted to pose, not so much about who or how these people behind the games like what they’re like,” he shared. He’s more interested in how the faceless enemies driving late-stage capitalism have continued to punch down on lower classes even more in the wake of a pandemic, rather than finding out who they are exactly.
What are the themes of Squid Game season 2?
“The one thing that I had most in mind was this current world and how it makes all of us divided, it separates us from the other group, creates different sides to become hostile,” he reflected. “There are so many things that divide us today, whether it’s race, religion, language, the haves and the have nots, the generational divisions … We look at the political division, the left against the right, the conservatives against the progressives, and things like this lead to such a division where it almost seems like there is this line that absolutely cannot be crossed. It seems that the world leaders are creating these walls and divisions and it leads us to think that everyone who is on the other side, who does not think as you do, is an enemy that cannot ever be forgiven.”
Hwang described how recent political events spurned by the pandemic’s aftermath factored into the allegory of the Squid Game—and how a new level of judgment in the form of votes among the participants in season two mirrors cancel culture. “Even more so than the tension that comes from the games themselves, I felt more intense feelings of suspense and tension from these votes, because you cannot but wonder what’s going to happen if the games are going to go on, who’s going to vote,” Hwang explained. “That leads to the people in the games thinking whatever [is chosen], I’m right, you’re wrong. I’m an angel. You’re absolute evil. All throughout season two, I was focusing on that issue of, is there truly hope for us?”
Why is Squid Game season 2 only 7 episodes long?
“Season one came out during the pandemic, and it’s been about three or four years, and now, if you see the world and the environment that we live in, I think it’s spiraling downwards. It’s not getting any better,” the Squid Game creator told Deadline. “We still see gaps between gender and the poor exacerbating and we see wars around the globe, and we have conflicts between races, religion, class. Looking at all that, and I also feel like the young people just want a jackpot because they don’t have that ladder they can climb up, they don’t have that anymore. I think because these things are still happening in our world, I could be influenced by that, and I could create a season two.”
The middle arc of Squid Game, which runs just seven episodes (season one was nine), sets the stage for the series’ final season. “I wrote seasons two and three at the same time, and we were in production for both simultaneously, and currently we are in the post-production process for season three,” Hwang shared. “When I was writing the script for the two seasons, I felt like there was a big turning point or an inflection point, and that was the end of episode seven, so I thought that it would do it justice to have a separate season after that. That’s why I had first seven episodes as season two and then the rest of season three.”
In season two, we’ll be getting a more rounded view of everyone trapped in the system put in place by those at the top running the games. “In season one, I used the cop who infiltrated the game, Hwang Jun-ho, as a way to introduce the life of the workers there,” Hwang said. “This time around, you can see a sneak peek into the lives of the soldiers and managers and how they came to be who they are.”
Squid Game season two drops December 26 on Netflix.
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