Courtesy of Netflix © 2023
Netflix broke records with Squid Game, a brutal, devastating indictment of capitalist greed and economic exploitation, so it’s now decided to… turn director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s dystopia into a reality series?
“With both the largest cast and lump sum cash prize in reality TV history, 456 real players will enter the game in pursuit of a life-changing reward of $4.56 million,” reads the streaming giant’s Squid Game: The Challenge log line. “As they compete through a series of games inspired by the original show – plus surprising new additions – their strategies, alliances, and character will be put to the test while competitors are eliminated around them. The stakes are high, but in this game the worst fate is going home empty-handed.” Read: no one actually dies.
The frankly chilling social experiment will consist of 10 episodes due to drop on 22 November, as revealed in the first teaser for the series that landed on 22 September. In it, we see the players spy the ginormous prize pot, climb up those pastel-coloured staircases, and race towards Young-hee, the creepy motion-sensing doll from “Red Light, Green Light”.
As for those of us who simply want to find out what’s next for Seong Gi-hun? Netflix has also greenlit another series of Squid Game featuring a fresh batch of recruits dispatched to the island in the hope of winning 45 billion won. Per Hwang Dong-hyuk’s social media announcement: “Gi-hun returns. The Front Man returns. The man in the suit with ddakji might be back. You’ll also be introduced to Young-hee’s boyfriend, Cheol-su… Just us once more for a whole new round.” Turns out Cho Sang-Woo was right: “We’ve already come too far to end this now.”
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
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