Three years ago, Squid Game left viewers around the world shocked, devastated, horrified and sobbing in equal measure when the South Korean TV series launched on Netflix.
Now that the global sensation is returning next month, fans can rest assured that season 2 is going to be just as violent as the story takes yet another dramatic turn.
Metro recently spoke to actor Lee Jung-jae, who plays the lead character Seong Gi-hun, and the thriller’s creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, with other media outlets about what audiences can expect when the new episodes are released on Boxing Day this year.
At the end of the first season, it was revealed *spoilers ahead if you still haven’t watched it* that Gi-hun had earned his freedom and a huge cash prize after winning the lethal game, which resulted in the deaths of the 455 other players, all of whom were struggling financially in their everyday lives.
While he was initially planning on boarding a plane to be reunited with his daughter, after speaking on the phone to the Front Man – the mysterious figure in charge of the game – Gi-hun decides to turn back around… and now in season two, he’s after revenge.
One of the biggest questions that viewers will have as they prepare to watch the latest episodes will be if they’re going to match the level of graphic violence that left jaws on the floor last time around.
Jung-jae, who recently starred as a lightsaber-wielding Jedi Master in The Acolyte, emphasised that the point of the violence in Squid game ‘is not for entertainment, nor is it meant to make the show more provocative’.
‘I think it’s there to show the tragic situation of the people who are thrown into this kind of violence,’ the 51-year-old said.
‘So violence is basically like a vehicle or medium to show the characters’ desperations and their backstories, which are even more heartbreaking than the violence themselves.’
The actor added that the violence in Squid Game allows the show to ‘express the psyche of the characters’ and ‘what’s going through their heads’, while also ‘maximising their emotional arcs’.
The show’s creator Dong-hyuk, who confirmed that it will end with its third season, compared the violence in the drama to the horrors that people experience in the real world, outlining that it is a ‘metaphor’.
‘The violence that you see portrayed in Squid Game, people being gunned down when they’re eliminated from these games, these are metaphors, or an allegory, to the social system where the level of violence or brutality that’s posed on the weak and those that are losers of the competition. That’s the context that I would suggest for the viewers to interpret the brutality or violence depicted in the show,’ he stated.
‘I think that when it comes to the level of violence or brutality that is happening to those in the actual world, what happens to the weak, what happens to refugees, what war does to women and children around the world – is it really less brutal than what you see in Squid Game? My answer to that would be it is not.
‘So I don’t think I can agree to the fact that the level of violence depicted in Squid Game is greater or more brutal than what happens in reality to the weak.’
As for whether season two of Squid Game will be more shocking in terms of its violence than the first, the screenwriter said that it was ‘difficult for him to say’.
‘Because these games run on the same rules that when you’re eliminated from the game, you are shot to death, I think that the level of violence, in terms of the way the deaths are depicted, it’s going to be a similar level, because them being shot to their deaths is a metaphor for what happens to those that lose in the game, in society,’ the 53-year-old said.
‘So again, it’s hard to say as creator whether it’s going to be even more or less brutal. I would say it’s going to be up to the viewers, for them to decide. But I did not have any creative intentions to make it even more violent or more brutal.’
In the second outing for the global phenomenon, Gi-hun – who originally competed as Player 456 – sets out on a mission to bring an end to the barbarity for good.
Picking up three years after the end of season one, the character uses his fortune to fund his efforts – and winds up back in the ultimate game of survival in the process.
Squid Game season 2 is set to premiere on December 26 on Netflix.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : Netflix series with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes hailed ‘a masterpiece’ for season 2
MORE : How to watch Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul in the UK and what time does the fight start?
MORE : These 7 TV sitcoms have been hailed ‘perfect’ – do you agree?
