10 Squid Game Behind-The-Scenes Details That Will Change How You See Season 2

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Squid Game season 2!Squid Game season 2 continues the Netflix show’s story three years after its inaugural run, and a peek behind the curtain makes the complex process of making the TV show even more interesting. Although Squid Game season 2 introduced many new players, the format of the show was pretty similar. However, there are also notable differences. For example, Squid Game season 2’s ending is much more of a cliffhanger than last time, but there’s a very good reason for that. In short, Squid Game season 3’s story will conclude the saga and has been set up by season 2’s finale.

First airing in 2021, Squid Game is the brainchild of the show’s writer/director/showrunner, Hwang Dong-hyuk. The show quickly became an overnight sensation with audiences in its native South Korea and other countries around the world. It has become known for its high-stakes, bloody storytelling, and battle royale-style narrative. Both seasons to date have been led by Lee Jae-jung’s Seong Gi-hun as he ventures through a creative twist on the traditional rags-to-riches story. The show’s production demands are relatively simple when compared with other projects, but certain factors do create challenges and quirks.

10

Director Hwang Dong-hyuk Had 6 Months To Write Squid Game Season 2

Netflix gave the showrunner a tight deadline

In Screen Rant’s interview with Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, he revealed that he had an incredibly tight schedule when it came to getting the scripts finished for the show’s second run of episodes. After trying to source a buyer for Squid Game season 1’s script for a decade, the show’s success then resulted in Netflix giving him a deadline of just six months to finish the latest run. This is made even more impressive when it’s considered he also had to write Squid Game‘s third and final season during this period.

“With [Squid Game] seasons 2 and 3, I was only given about six months’ time, given the fact that we had a date that we wanted to launch the series. So counting backwards, it meant that I had to be done with the writing aspect of it by then.”

– Hwang Dong-hyuk, Screen Rant

The Squid Game showrunner isn’t the first to pen the entirety of a season on his own, but it’s not that common of a circumstance. What makes it even rarer is the sheer amount of work he had to do in such a short space of time. What’s more, he also directed every episode of Squid Game season 2, just as he had in the show’s debut run back in 2021. He could have delegated one or two of the scripts to another writer, but he chose to accept the enormous undertaking and did a great job with it.

9

Gong Yoo Had Never Played A Villain Before The Recruiter

Known mainly as “The Salesman,” or sometimes, “The Recruiter,” Gong Yoo’s mysterious Squid Game character has only been in four episodes. With his shocking death in a game of Russian Roulette early into the events of Squid Game season 2, it seems unlikely that the actor will ever be able to reprise his mysterious role. Because so little is known of the Salesman, a cloud of unease follows him around, but Gong Yoo’s brilliantly calm performance as the games’ evil recruiter is what really sells the character. Somewhat surprisingly, Gong Yoo had never played a villain before Squid Game.

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Acting since 2001, Gong Yoo had stayed away from portraying antagonists throughout his career until twenty years later when he was cast in Squid Game season 1. This does sort of make sense, as, at least on the surface, he doesn’t seem the type to play a traditional villain. That being said, the Salesman is a very different type of bad guy, and with Gong Yoo in the role, it’s now impossible to imagine any other actor who could have done a better job.

8

Squid Game’s Seasons 2 & 3 Were Filmed Back-To-Back

Netflix is concluding the saga quickly after a lengthy wait

There was a sizable gap between Squid Game seasons 1 and 2. Part of the reason for this is that the show’s creator only ever intended the story to consist of a single run of episodes, which would form a self-contained story. Before that, it was supposed to be a movie. So, there were no initial plans for a sequel. However, the show’s immediate success and cliffhanger ending made more episodes inevitable. The agonizing three-year wait for Gi-hun’s story to continue wasn’t ideal, but it’s something that has been avoided going into the show’s final season.

Carrying on exactly after the Squid Game season 2 finale will not only feel more natural for the cast and crew but also hopefully result in a more complete experience.

Unlike the first season, the Squid Game season 2 finale is clearly supposed to be nail-bitingly incomplete. Squid Game season 3 will presumably pick up right where season 2 ended. As such, the news that both the second and third runs were shot right after one another perhaps isn’t entirely surprising, but it does double down on one of the biggest changes streaming services have made in the TV industry. Carrying on exactly after the Squid Game season 2 finale will not only feel more natural for the cast and crew but also hopefully result in a more complete experience.

7

Lee Byung-hun Is Right-Handed (But The Front Man Is Left-Handed)

The Player 001 actor was presented with an interesting performance challenge

Dominant hand-use is very rarely a consideration when it comes to character design or who will be cast in certain roles. Just like eye color or height, certain actors’ characteristics often just, by default, also apply to the character they’re playing. This general rule makes Lee Byung-hun’s portrayal of the Front Man especially interesting, as although the actor is right-handed, he needs to adjust his performance to the fact that the man he’s playing is left-handed.

For various reasons, lefthandedness is historically associated with negative character traits. So, it makes sense that Squid Game‘s primary antagonist is lefthanded.

The use of a dominant hand is an incredibly instinctual thing, and it takes a lot of practice and concentration to uphold the illusion of your weaker hand being the one that automatically takes charge. Of course, Lee Byung-hun has the advantage of being on a TV set, and also likely has continuity people present to make sure he is consistent with which hand he is using while in character. Still, it’s an obstacle that needs constant monitoring for worldbuilding purposes.

6

Jo Yu-ri Couldn’t Get Ddakji Right (So They Had To Use CGI)

Hwang Dong-hyuk resorted to desperate measures

Gi-hun's team during the second game in Squid Game

Squid Game season 2 introduced Jo Yu-ri as Kim Jun-hee, with the twist that a pregnant woman had been invited to the deadly tournament. As in season 1, the games in Squid Game season 2 are all familiar to those who grew up in South Korea. The childish challenges are given a dark twist by the fact that failure often means death, but the games themselves are often simple. When Kim Jun-hee is tasked with playing Ddakji in Squid Game season 2, episode 5, “One More Game,” she nails it in one try, but the actress did not.

This moment can be spotted at 11:30 in “One More Time.”

Kim Jun Hee failed so miserably while shooting the scene that the director eventually had to intervene and say that the perfect flip would need to be added with CGI. The Ddakji flip occurs in a roughly minute-long shot, with sweeping camera work and a lot of coordination between the actors. A minute may not sound like a long time, but with the amount of work in each camera shot, it’s pretty much an eternity. So, Kim Jun-hee’s mistakes at the very start of what was set to be a lengthy endeavor must have quickly become very frustrating.

5

Kang Ha-neul Spent Days Practicing Gonggi (But They Used A Pro Player Anyway)

Gongii is also known as “Korean Jacks”

Gi-hun's team playing Gonggi in Squid Game

Kang Dae-ho is one of Squid Game season 2’s best new characters, and he makes it very clear during the second game that he knows perfectly well how to play Gonggi. His confidence is well-earned, as he flies through the round with blistering speed and dexterity. However, actor Kang Ha-neul is only seen starting and ending the game, with the bulk of the round consisting of a close-up of the character’s hands.

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Although it’s still the same character playing Gonggi within the world of the show, the actor is temporarily replaced by a professional player during the close-up. This likely came as a bit of a blow to Kang Ha-neul, as he spent a great deal of time and effort trying to get good enough to look as thoroughly impressive as the scene required. While he may have improved through practice, there was clearly no substitute for a player who had spent years honing his craft.

4

Thanos’ Actor T.O.P Was An Actual Rapper (& Squid Game Is His Comeback)

Netflix gave the actor a chance to return to his music star years

Known professionally as T.O.P, Choi Seung-hyun plays Thanos in Squid Game season 2. Although his focus has been on acting in recent years, his career initially bloomed thanks to his musical endeavors. He started in a boyband named BigBang before moving on to a solo rap career under the stage name T.O.P. Although BigBang reunited in 2022, T.O.P opted not to return to the lineup, but he does have a songwriting credit on their single released that same year, “Still Life.”

Some of Thanos’ best moments in Squid Game season 2 come from his swagger as a rapper, which is a brilliant quality T.O.P brings to the role.

Because T.O.P has been largely absent from the music industry for a while now, playing Thanos – who is also a rapper – is something of a meta comeback for the actor. Of course, Thanos is a heartless villain, so there’s not an exact parallel between the character and the actor, but some of Thanos’ best moments in Squid Game season 2 come from his swagger as a rapper, which is a brilliant quality T.O.P brings to the role.

3

The Mingle Set Was Made Without The Use Of CGI

Squid Game sets are often a blend of CGI and practical effects

Any time there is a set with a lot of moving parts, modern-day trends dictate that at least part of the space will be augmented with CGI – if the whole set isn’t green-screened, anyway. By the cast’s own admission, even some of the relatively simple sets, like the Red Light, Green Light, took place in performance spaces requiring the use of CGI. Interestingly, the introduction of Mingle as one of Squid Game season 2’s new games also brought a new environment into the fold, but it was built from scratch without turning to CGI.

The Mingle set is one of the show’s most ambitious, which makes the fact it was assembled at full scale in its entirety makes it especially impressive.

The Mingle set is one of the show’s most ambitious, which makes the fact it was assembled at full scale in its entirety makes it especially impressive. It’s one of the most tense and immersive games in Squid Game history, and this is due in large part not only to its frantic rules and usual high stakes, but also because of all the practical effects offering it something truly authentic. Of course, there is nothing wrong with using CGI, but it can often be relied on far too much.

2

The Squid Game Season 2 Cast Wasn’t Always Acting

Netflix’s smash-hit show had a surprising impact on the show’s newcomers

Although there are varying ways of delivering a good performance as an actor, there’s not always a guarantee that the emotion being portrayed is being felt by the person behind the character. That’s usually fine, as it’s a big part of an actor’s job to slip into the mindset of another person completely, even if that means emulating emotions rather than experiencing them firsthand. However, shooting Squid Game appears to have an interesting impact on its stars, and instills the necessary tension and fear that would be impressed upon the world’s characters.

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Various members of the Squid Game season 2 cast have mentioned how unsettling it is to be thrust into the world of the show – especially during recreations of season 1’s iconic moments like Red Light, Green Light. While this may have been a factor for the cast of Squid Game season 1, the fact the show is now so well-known must have made the effect far more potent for the newcomers.

1

Hwang Dong-hyuk Initially Gave Players Twice As Long To Finish The Second Game

10 minutes was the initial deadline

The second game in Squid Game season 2 crammed five mini-games into one challenge. Because there was so much ground to cover and plenty that could go wrong, the show’s writer tried to calculate a reasonable time in which the teams could complete the tasks. Originally, he arrived at a ten-minute deadline. Then, when the scene was being brought to life, the teams did so well that they quite often got through the entire task within half of the allotted time.

Hwang Dong-hyuk had to adjust the script to make the game feel far more like a challenge and to make sure it shared the same tension as the games that had come before it.

Therefore, Hwang Dong-hyuk had to adjust the script to make the game feel far more like a challenge and to make sure it shared the same tension as the games that had come before it. This was one of the best alterations made during the production process. Otherwise, there would have had to be some very creative editing taking place, or the actors would need to fake struggling through the games they otherwise found relatively simple. There were fewer games in Squid Game season 2, so it would have been a huge waste if the second challenge hadn’t been convincing.

Squid Game season 2 poster featuring a player's bloody corpse being dragged over a rainbow


In Squid Game, a mysterious invitation to join a competition is sent to people at risk who are in dire need of money. Four hundred fifty-six participants from all walks of life are locked into a secret location where they play games to win 45.6 billion won. Games are selected from traditional Korean children’s games, such as Red Light and Green Light, but the consequence of losing is death. To survive, competitors must choose their alliances carefully – but the further they go in the competition, the more likely betrayal will rear its ugly head.

Release Date

September 17, 2021

Cast

Wi Ha-joon
, Anupam Tripathi
, Oh Yeong-su
, Heo Sung-tae
, Park Hae-soo
, Jung Ho-yeon
, Lee Jung-jae
, Kim Joo-ryoung

Seasons

2

Showrunner

Hwang Dong-hyuk