Writer, director, and series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has spent the last six years of his life working on Netflix’s blockbuster “Squid Game.” Over more than half a decade, he has seen the themes of economic inequality that he first conceived as a film script in 2009, somehow get exponentially worse. But, perhaps that’s one reason he was so committed to continuing the storyline of Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) attempt to take down this immoral game, a lark for billionaires to wager on, over two more seasons.
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“So much has happened between 2009 and 2019, and globally, the wealth gap has only exacerbated, which has driven so many more people into such pain and struggle,” Director Hwang says through his translator. “And even during the years between season one and season two, everything became more, it was exacerbated, where all, if not most, of the wealth globally is concentrated in the top 1% of the global population. And I believe that if we just sit idly by, it’s only going to get worse from here. The so-called tech companies, the tech giants who make AI and semiconductors and whatnot, all of the global wealth is going to continue to be concentrated on them, and even more so. And I think that the global audiences, all of us, really feel that that is the reality of everything that’s happening. And I think that’s one of the reasons why it resonated with so many people, the world that is shown as an allegory in ‘Squid Game,’ as an allegory of the actual world.”
During our interview, Hwang revealed more about his creative process for season two, pondered if a happy ending was possible for the end of the series, teased his next project, a feature film, and much more.
This interview was conducted with a translator and has been edited for length and clarity.
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The Playlist: What was your in for writing the second series? What was the one idea that led to all the others?
Hwang Dong-hyuk: Well, at the core, it was the fact that Gi-hun turns away from trying to get on the flight at the end of season one. So what was really important was the fact that I’m going to have Gi-han go back to the games and try to stop the games. And what was even more important than that was the showdown between the two main characters, Gi-hun and the Front Man. It’s really about a clash of beliefs and their own worldviews because there’s this one person who believes in humanity, who believes that the system can’t demolish one’s humanity. And then on the other side, there’s the Front Man who thinks to hell with humanity and who believes in this world that has created winners and losers, that people are divided between these two groups. And that it’s always about winning it all. It’s about survival of the fittest. And so, having these two characters come face to face inside the game, that’s where it all started.
Why put The Font Man in the game as a pretend contestant?
In season one, there was the character, Oh Il-nam, the mastermind of the game, who deceives everybody and enters the game just to have fun as player number one. And I wanted for season two to create a character that would take his place. And so I thought it would be a natural flow of the narrative to have the person who inherits the game, who becomes the next host of Squid Game, the Front Man, deceive all the players and go into the game, and have him try to manipulate all the other people. I thought it was going to be another entertaining element to bring to the second season. And in season one, the character is someone who is the twist, the surprise of the narrative. And it only comes towards the very late episodes. So, the audiences are shocked by the reveal of his identity. However, on the contrary, in season two, the audience is already aware that he’s The Front Man. And so we all get to sort of get in on this deception of him going into the games and deceiving everybody as the host and as the actual person running these games. And so I thought that if the audience was in on the secret, it would provide them with a new kind of tension and a new kind of excitement.
One of the great things about the second season is the introduction of the transgender character,  Cho Hyun-ju. What was your inspiration for bringing them into the show, and are you relieved by how well received she was by viewers?
In season one, you’ll notice that I have a lot of characters that represent many minority groups that exist in the current society. And I did that because I believe they’re the ones who go through the most pain and struggle in the current capitalist society and the current system. And so in season one, there were characters who were foreigners who were working in Korea. There was a North Korean defector woman, and also elderly [competitors]. And I wanted to have a character like that that could represent yet another minority group in the second season that would represent some of the most ostracized and pressured, and oppressed groups in the current society. And I think that one of the most representative groups is the trans community. And, unlike the western world, there still is a lot of bias against the LGBTQ+ community and individuals, very unfortunately, they have to remain in the shadows, still in a lot many ways, in many areas of society. There was, in fact actually a Korean individual who was a soldier who went through gender confirmation surgery during his service, and they were fired because of that. And that led to this individual taking their own life. I wanted to have a character who could really help contribute to lessening and really breaking away from these biases that are there in Korean society. And you will notice that Ji is the most positive and righteous character all throughout the series. And so I wanted to have this character to help contribute to that change.
Thank you for that. You started working on this in 2020, right? Or before 2020?
In fact, the very original conception of the idea, I had written a feature film script of “Squid Game” back in 2009, and then a decade had to pass. So, I began working on it as a series, and that started in 2019.
Even between 2019 and today, the value of billionaires, their net worth, has grown exponentially. And the difference between the haves and the have-nots is even larger than when you first had the idea for this film or series. Is that disheartening to you? And do you feel as though this show resonates with people partially because they recognize this in society?
Of course. And so much has happened between 2009 and 2019, and globally, the wealth gap has only exacerbated, which has driven so many more people into such pain and struggle. And even during the years between season one and season two, everything became more, it was exacerbated, where all, if not most, of the wealth globally is concentrated in the top 1% of the global population. And I believe that if we just sit idly by, it’s only going to get worse from here. The so-called tech companies, the tech giants who make AI and semiconductors and whatnot, all of the global wealth is going to continue to be concentrated on them, and even more so. And I think that the global audiences, all of us, really feel that that is the reality of everything that’s happening. And I think that’s one of the reasons why it resonated with so many people, the world that is shown as an allegory in “Squid Game” is an allegory of the actual world.
At the end of the first season, there was a happy ending. But as we hit season three and the final season, and without giving anything away, can “Squid Game” have a happy ending?
It is half. Half sad, half happy ending. It is right in half. So in the middle. You see what I mean? When you watch the final episode.
You’ve spent so many, what, six years of your life making this show. What sort of project do you want to work on next? And do you know what it is?
Well, I do have a project in mind, and it’s a film with the current title being “K.O. Club”. So it is about the brutal and cruel event or phenomenon that could take place in about a decade or two if we do nothing and the world goes in the current path, goes down the current path. And the title again is “K.O. Club.” But that’s all I can give you, I guess.
“Squid Game” season 2 is now available on Netflix. Season 3 launches on June 27.

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