Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk says season 2 may come out as early as 2023

After the skyrocketing success of the first season, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is charged up with ideas and is already channeling them into the second season coming out as soon as next year, to the delight of fans all over the globe.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the South Korean filmmaker shared that he is in communication with Netflix to discuss the final draft of the second season for the hit series. He is spitballing ideas and has the plot roughly sketched out onto three pages that he intends to convert into the script for the show. Dong-hyuk estimated that it could come out in 2023 or 2024.

"Humanity is going to be put to a test through those games once again," he said. The filmmaker elaborated on the potential themes he has got in mind, saying he wants to pose the question "is true solidarity between humans possible?" after the characters were "focused on wanting to kill each other off" the first time around.

He also confirmed that sole survivor of the Game lead actor Gi-hun, who is played by Lee Jung-jae, is definitely coming back for more. Dong-hyuk also feels inclined to bring back the mysterious Front Man and overseer of the games, played by Lee Byung-hun, and give him a more important role in the new season.

The magazine also polled the actors about what they want the second season to look like — even the ones who faced a demise in season 1. HoYeon Jung and Park Hae-soo, who play Kang Sae-byeok and Cho Sang-woo respectively, shared their hopes for the Squid Game continuation.

"I just want Gi-hun to have a more happy life," Jung said, with Byung-hun sharing that he envisions the actor's character having a twin sister so that she can make a comeback as well. Another possibility, he reckons, is the game operatives taking Sang-woo away to keep him alive before he actually died.

The nine-part thriller followed a group of average citizens thrust into a high-stakes competition of childhood games with a deadly twist run by a mysterious organisation in a bid to win 45.6 billion won ($38 million). It quickly became a worldwide sensation becoming the streamer's biggest series launch ever and the first Korean series to reach the No. 1 position on Netflix's top 10 titles in the United States.

It was renewed for a second season in January. Last year, director Hwang Dong-hyuk claimed there would be another season and Netflix co-CEO and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos finally confirmed the news saying, “Absolutely, the Squid Game universe has just begun.”