Squid Game season 2 | release date speculation and latest news

“There will be more great games, that’s all I can say,” he said. “I’m just still brainstorming and collecting the ideas for Season 2. I haven’t even started with the writing yet.”

The series became the biggest hit in Netflix history when it arrived on the streaming giant last September, launching the likes of South Korean star Lee Jung-jae (who led the talented Squid Game cast) to global fame.

Devotees for the series very quickly began digesting endless Squid Game theories and swiftly climbed on top of their merchandise with various goodies and merchandise.

So, here is everything we know so far about the next season of Squid Game, including who could return after all of those deaths in season 1.

Meanwhile, if you are struggling with what to watch next then

‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Confirmed

**Spoiler warning for Squid Game season 1*

Squid Game season 2 release date speculation

Squid Game is officially returning for a second season, according to creator Hwang Dong-hyuk.

However, we could have quite the wait on our hands.

The show’s creator told Associated Press that Squid Game will definitely be back for season 2, saying: “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. I’m in the planning process currently. But I do think it’s too early to say when and how that’s going to happen.”

Writer and director Hwang had revealed that a second season of Squid Game was not yet fully formed in his mind and presents challenges. So we appear to have had some change since then.

“There’s a film I really want to make,” he told The Guardian. “I’m thinking about which to do first. I’m going to talk to Netflix.”

EXCLUSIVE: The creator told MarkMeets.com to expect new episodes on Netflix by the end of 2024.

“I do realise there are huge expectations for season two,” he said. “It’s not that I haven’t thought about season two at all, and I also do have a rough framework for it. But I keep asking myself whether I can make it better than season one. I do not want people to get disappointed over the new season.”

He went on to explain that he may even try to incorporate some of the many fan theories that are circulating online to help him create a pleasing show.

“If I ever make season two, I will try to look up those many ideas, and of course if there are any good ones, I can bring them into the story,” he said. “Since I prefer writing alone, maybe all these ideas on YouTube can function as my writer’s room.”

“Or maybe I can even ask the fans on social media to give ideas. In the meantime, I will try and think more while I work on films.”

So there you go, if you want to help speed up the process of the next season, maybe you need to develop some really great theories and post them on social media. You never know, you might end up in the virtual writers’ room!

The first season of the show went into production in 2019, and although it was delayed by the pandemic, without a new season in production and much of 2021 already passed, it’s unlikely we’ll see Squid Game season 2 until 2023 at the earliest.

Was Squid Game planned as a limited series?

While Squid Game has never been advertised as a limited series, the show’s creator Hwang Dong-hyuk told Variety at the end of September that he had no immediate plan to write a second season and didn’t have any “well developed” ideas for a follow-up season. “It is quite tiring just thinking about it,” he added.

Hwang had revealed in an interview that he’s asked himself whether he can make a second season that is “better than season one”, adding: “I do not want people to get disappointed over the new season.”

It also took Hwang over 10 years to get Squid Game to our screens after a number of studios rejected the project for its “bizarre” concept so it would be understandable if the Korean director had only envisaged the hit Netflix series to run for one season.

That being said, Hwang has since said that the show will definitely be returning for a second season – so I guess that answers that question!

Who could appear in the Squid Game season 2 cast?

It’s probably no spoiler to reveal the majority of the Squid Game cast who played the 456 in season one won’t be returning for season two. The nature of the series means that contestants are killed when they are eliminated from the game, so unless the new season took the form of a prequel or had flashback sequences, we won’t be seeing many returning cast members or characters.

It is a spoiler, however, to note Lee Jung-jae could return as the winner of the first games, Seung Gi-hun. There’s no guarantee of this of course, but the possibility remains open depending on where the creator and writers would want to take it.

Lee recently told Entertainment Weekly that he would “of course” want to return for season two, but at this point, doesn’t know how the story will turn out.

“I’ve received so much love and support from [viewers], of course I have to play him again if there is a season 2. But at this point I don’t know anything about how the story is going to turn out, or how the characters are going to change, or if there is going to be any new characters adding to the series. I don’t know anything right now.

“And I also don’t know whether if Gi-hun’s role was still be the main role or like a minor role on the side. But whatever it’s going to be, of course I would have to say yes.”

We also met the recruiter of the games in the first season, so it’s likely revered actor Gong Yoo will make an appearance in season two, perhaps to delve more into the behind-the-scenes of the deadly challenge.

As for Hwang Jun-ho, the police officer who snuck into the games, he was shot in season one by the Front Man (who turned out to be his missing brother) and fell into the ocean – but is he really dead? Wi Ha-joon who plays Jun-ho recently told Deadline that he’d like him to survive the fall and quiz his brother on why exactly he became the ring-leader of the games.

“I’m dying to know what happened to him. I want him to return alive, find his brother and ask him tons of questions. As a brother, I would ask him sincerely,” he said. “As a detective, I want to explore the overall secrets behind the game as well. I really hope to see Jun-ho come back alive and explore all these questions. I hope to see a more brother-love side of their relationship as well.”

Meanwhile in March 2022, Hwang teased that he could be tempted to bring back some stars from the first run, even if their characters had been killed off.

“I’ll try something to bring them back to Season 2,” he told Deadline, befoe joking of star HoYeon Jung, “Let’s say maybe she has a twin sister, you’ll see.”

Is there a trailer for Squid Game season 2?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a trailer for Squid Game season 2 yet as it has only just been confirmed, let alone produced. We’ll update this page as soon as there is one.

Until then, here’s the trailer for season one again, simply because it’s a visual treat.

Still as pretty as ever!

Squid Game season 2 plot theories

While Seung Gi-hun triumphed during the first games, it seems the horror isn’t over yet.

He discovers the challenges are still continuing with a different team, so there’s plenty of scope for Gi-hun to become the ultimate hero and stop them all.

One thing’s for certain: this edition of the game wasn’t the first and doesn’t seem to be the last, so the series could really go in any direction, in a similar vein to the Saw franchise.

Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk recently told The Times that he would like a second season to look at the Korean police after focusing mainly on the contestants in the first season.

“While I was writing season one, I thought about the stories that could be in season two if I get to do one — one would be the story of the Frontman. I think the issue with police officers is not just an issue in Korea.

“I see it on the global news that the police force can be very late on acting on things — there are more victims or a situation gets worse because of them not acting fast enough. This was an issue that I wanted to raise. Maybe in season two I can talk about this more.”

While we did get a glimpse into what life for the Game employees was like when police officer Hwang Jun-ho snuck into the facility, we don’t know a lot about how the workers were recruited and why they chose to work there. We find out that Jun-ho’s brother is the Front Man, having taken on a senior role at the Game after winning as a contestant in 2015, but we don’t know why he decided to join forces with the competition that made him kill several people.

A second season could explore the employees’ stories more, with Hwang saying interview that he may look into the theory around the colour of the Ddakji cards a contestant chooses, with some thinking that choosing the blue card makes you a contestant while choosing the red card makes you an employee.

“What an intriguing theory!” he said. “I might use it if we’ll ever have a season two!”

Hwang also said that he would be open to exploring the back story of Old Man Oh Il-nam, a contestant who is revealed to be a wealthy investor behind the games.

“It seems, however, the way how he yearns for the happy moments of his past shows that he has lost many things including his family and his humanity at the cost of success. If there will be a season two, we might reveal a little more about his past story,” he said.

While we find out that Il-nam was one of the wealthy VIPs who helped set up the Game for rich people who became disillusioned with the thrills of normal life, we don’t know a huge amount the life he had with his wife and son, who he mentions during the marbles game. There’s one particular Squid Game fan theory which thinks Il-nam could turn out to be Gi-hun’s father as the two seemed to develop a familial relationship throughout the games while Il-name told Gi-hun on his death bed that it had been “fun to play with him”. Perhaps diving into Il-nam’s backstory could confirm this potential plot thread?

Hwang added that he may turn to the fans for ideas for a second season, saying: “Since I prefer writing alone, maybe all these ideas on YouTube can function as my writer’s room. Or maybe I can even ask the fans on social media to give ideas. In the meantime, I will try and think more while I work on films.”

Hwang seems to have changed his mind on writing by himself since then, recently telling Variety that if he does make a second season, he “would certainly not to it alone”.

“I’d consider using a writers’ room and would want multiple experienced directors,” he added.

While the season one finale seemed to set up season two, with Gi-hun decided not to board the plane to America and appearing to set out on a mission to seek revenge on the game organisers, Hwang has said that the last episode could work as a complete ending to the series and Gi-hun’s story.

“It’s true that season one ended in an open-ended way, but I actually thought that this could be good closure for the whole story, too,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

“Season one ends with Gi-hun turning back and not getting on the plane to the States. And that was, in fact, my way of communicating the message that you should not be dragged along by the competitive flow of society, but that you should start thinking about who has created the whole system — and whether there is some potential for you to turn back and face it.

“So it’s not necessarily Gi-hun turning back to get revenge. It could actually be interpreted as him making a very on-the-spot eye contact with what is truly going on in the bigger picture. So I thought that might be a good, simple-but-ambiguous way to end the story for Gi-hun.”

However, he added that if he did write a second season, he would want to explore the storyline between the Front Man and his police officer brother, as well as the recruiter for the games.

“I could also go into the story of that recruiter in the suit who plays the game of ddakji with Gi-hun and gives him the card in the first episode. And, of course, we could go with Gi-hun’s story as he turns back, and explore more about how he’s going to navigate through his reckoning with the people who are designing the games. So, I don’t know yet, but I’ll just say there are a lot of possibilities out there for season two storylines.”

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