The second season of squid games was released on December 26, 2024, which is set three years after the first season. The first season was released on September 17, 2021. Due to the stress of writing and producing the first series of nine episodes himself, Hwang initially had no immediate plans to write a second season to Squid Game, and did not have well-developed plans for a follow-up story and said that if he were to write one, he would likely need a staff of writers and directors to help him. In late October 2021, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk stated he was in discussions with Netflix regarding a second season. He further stated in December 2021 that he was also discussing a third season with Netflix that would be filmed back to back with season 2 and would hopefully be expected to come out by 2025 in the summer or fall, which is barely a wait compared to the first two seasons. In an interview with The Times, Hwang stated that a second season may focus more on the story of the Front Man, as well as incorporating more about the police: “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 in acting on things—there are more victims or a
situation gets worse because of them not acting fast enough.” The second season was set three years after season 1, and it was released on Netflix on December 26, 2024.
The characters for this season star returning actors Lee Jung-jae (main character), known as player 456 or Seong Gi-hun, Lee Byung-hun, known as player 001 or Young-il, and Wi Ha-joon, known as Hwang Ju-ho playing a police man. This season also brings some new actors to further develop the story by exploring new perspectives and introducing fresh dynamics with characters who have different motivations and backstories: Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Lee Jin-wook, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Jo Yu-ri, Kang Ae-shim, Lee Seo-hwan, and Park Gyu-young. Prior to the season’s release, the casting choice of Park Sung-hoon as transgender ex-soldier Hyun-Ju was controversial due to some wanting a trans person to portray their experiences. Criticism fell on both the casting of a cisgender person, which is someone whose internal sense of gender corresponds with the sex the person was identified as birth, for the role instead of a transgender person, as well as for casting a man as opposed to a woman. Some argued in response to this criticism that South Korea is conservative with regards to LGBT rights and that trying to find a transgender actress willing to put herself in the spotlight was not reasonable. People also argued that having a trans character in a South Korean series at all is an important step in representation.
Another new character is Seung-hyun, also known as player 230 or “Thanos”. In 2017, Seung-hyun, better known as the rapper T.O.P., had pled guilty to drug use and was blackballed in the Korean music industry during that period; he also overdosed on tranquilizers. Hwang praised Seung-hyun for the courage to return to the public spotlight after nine years and to portray a character with similar controversies as Seung-hyun had in his own life, saying “Despite the long hiatus, I have to say, as a director, he performed very impressively and I’m very satisfied with what he did with the character.” Seung-hyun was also part of a very popular South Korean K-pop boy band also known as “BidBang.” Seung-hyun was the lead rapper, but he was most known for his dance moves, which he showed during his appearances on Squid Games 2, making a lot of people love for him.
