The Netflix original South Korean survival drama series Squid Game was created by Hwang Dong-hyuk. However, the series took its name from a real children's game.
Seong Gi-hun, a divorced father and debtor who resides with his ill mother, is invited to participate in a series of kid's games for the chance to win a considerable cash prize. Accepting the offer, he is led to an undisclosed location where he meets 455 other players, all of whom are experiencing severe financial difficulties.
The Front Man, who wears a black mask and a black uniform, oversees the games, while the players are required to wear green tracksuits and are constantly watched over by masked guards wearing pink jumpsuits. The players soon learn that losing a game results in their death, with each death raising the possibility of the grand prize to a whopping ₩45.6 billion dollars by ₩100 million. To survive the physical and psychological twists of the games, Gi-hun forms alliances with other players, including his childhood friend Cho Sang-woo and North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok.
Hwang had developed the concept in response to his own early-life financial struggles, the class divide in South Korea, and capitalism. He wrote it in 2009, but he wasn't able to secure funding for it until Netflix expressed interest in it in 2019.
On September 17, 2021, Squid Game became a global phenomenon and received positive reviews from critics. With more than 142 million member households, 1.65 billion viewing hours, and the number one show in 94 countries during its first four weeks of release, it has surpassed “Bridgerton” to become Netflix's most watched series.
Who was cast in the Squid Games series?
Lee Jung-jae was chosen by Hwang to play Gi-hun in order to "destroy his charismatic image portrayed in his previous roles," according to Hwang. While HoYeon Jung was wrapping up a shoot in Mexico and getting ready for New York Fashion Week, her new management team asked her to send a video to audition for the series. Despite having low expectations because this was her first acting audition, Hwang said, "The moment I saw her audition tape from New York, I immediately thought to myself, 'this is the girl we want.'
Hwang remarked that it was challenging to find talented foreign actors in Korea when casting Ali Abdul. Anupam Tripathi was chosen because of his proficiency in Korean and emotional acting abilities.
Hwang had previously collaborated with Lee Byung-hun and Gong Yoo on his movies “Silenced” and “The Fortress,” and he asked both actors to play supporting roles in Squid Game. The non-Korean actors who reside in Asia were chosen to play the VIPs; in the case of Geoffrey Giuliano, whose prior performance in “Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula” led to his casting for Squid Game, he played the VIP who interacted with Jun-ho. On June 17, 2020, casting for the series was officially announced.
How was the Squid Game series developed?
Hwang Dong-hyuk struggled in the midst of the nation's debt crisis after failing to secure funding for a different movie script he had written around 2008. He, his mother, and his grandmother had to take out loans to stay afloat. He read Japanese survival manga like Battle Royale, Liar Game, and Gambling Apocalypse: Kaiji in a South Korean manga cafe during his free time. In 2009, Hwang wrote a movie script based on the idea after comparing the characters' circumstances in these works to his own current situation and thinking about the possibility of playing a survival game to win money to pay off debt.
Hwang stated, "I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life. But I wanted it to use the kind of characters we've all met in real life." At the time, Hwang worried that the plot was "too confusing and bizarre."
Hwang attempted to pitch his idea to several Korean production companies and actors but was rejected because it was too gory and unrealistic. Hwang set this script aside after finding no buyers and went on to successfully complete three other movies over the following ten years, including Silenced (2011), a crime drama, and The Fortress, a historical drama (2017).
Netflix began investing in productions in other countries, including Korea, in the 2010s after noticing a significant increase in viewers from countries other than North America. Netflix's co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in 2018 that the company was hoping for more success with foreign production. By the time Hwang drew Netflix's attention to his script, it already had an Asian division.
In September 2019, Netflix formally announced that they would adapt Hwang's work for an original television series. Regarding their interest in Hwang's work, Netflix's Bela Bajaria, head of global television operations, stated, "We knew it was going to be big in Korea because it had a well-regarded director with a bold vision" and that "K-Dramas also travel well across Asia."
Hwang remarked on his return to the project, "It's a sad story. But the reason why I returned to the project is because the world will have transformed in 10 years into a place where these unbelievable survival stories are so fitting, and I found that this is the time when people will call these stories intriguing and realistic."
What was the inspiration for the Squid Game series?
The piece was "a story about losers," according to Hwang. Seong Gi-hun, Cho Sang-woo, and Il-nam, as well as the character name Hwang Jun-ho, were all based on Hwang's childhood friends. Gi-hun and Sang-woo, the two main characters, were based on Hwang's own experiences and served as "two sides" of himself.
While Sang-woo reflected on Hwang's experience attending Seoul National University in the face of high expectations from his family and neighborhood, Gi-hun was based on Hwang's own experiences as a student. Additionally, the 2009 SsangYong Motor labor strike organizers against mass layoffs cited unemployment as an inspiration for Gi-hun's background.
Hwang based the story on Korean games he played as a child to show the irony of a game played as a child in which competition was not important, turning into an extreme competition where people's lives were on the line.
Additionally, he opted to use kid-friendly games with clear rules instead of other survival-type films, which tended to use games with complex rules, because his original script was written with the intention of being made into a movie. The squid game, a well-liked Korean children's game from the 1970s and 1980s, was the one he chose as the centerpiece.
Hwang was the sole author of the entire series; it took him nearly six months to complete just the first two episodes. Hwang then sought advice from friends on how to proceed. Hwang also discussed the difficulties of preparing for the show, which was mentally and physically strenuous. As a result, after finishing these episodes, Hwang wasn't sure if there would be a sequel, though he kept a potential hook in mind when he wrote the ending.
FAQs
Q. What is the Squid Game?
A. A children's game popular in South Korea during the 1970s and 1980s is the inspiration for the Squid Game series. Though the game was turned into a fictional nine-episode survival drama.
Q. How many episodes does Squid Game have?
A. The complete series was released on September 17, 2021, consisting of nine episodes.
Q. Will there be a sequel to the Squid Game?
A. In June 2022, the show received a second season renewal; it will premiere in late 2023 or early 2024.
Q. What changed in 2021 that made Netflix to fund Squid Game?
A. Hwang thought that, compared to a decade ago, the story was much more realistic for people because of the economic disparity between classes in South Korea due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
