The creator of the hit Netflix drama Squid Game has admitted he lost “eight or nine” teeth because he was so stressed while making the series.
The South Korean dystopian thriller saw huge success when it debuted in 2021, with Netflix estimating that it was watched by over 142 million households within the first 28 days of release. It sees hundreds of cash-strapped contestants compete in a series of deadly children’s games in an attempt to win a life-changing sum. The second season is set to arrive on Netflix on 26 December this year.
Hwang Dong-hyuk, the show’s creator, told the BBC that he had been so consumed with stress while shooting season one that he had lost nine teeth. It had previously been reported he had lost six.
Initially, the director’s experience of the workload meant that he didn’t want to shoot a second series, but the prospect of earning money changed his mind.
“Even though the first series was such a huge global success, honestly I didn’t make much,” he said. “So doing the second series will help compensate me for the success of the first one too.”
“And I didn’t fully finish the story,” he added.
Since almost every character was killed off in the last series, the director has to start from the beginning, and create a whole new cast from scratch, as well as a new set of games.
The show’s fictional previous winner, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), will re-enter the game on a mission to bring it down and save the latest round of contestants.
The second series may also offer viewers some answers to their burning questions, such as what is motivating the masked Front Man who runs the game, and why the game exists.
Last November, the streamer debuted the first season of its spin-off reality game series, Squid Game: The Challenge, which similarly saw 456 money-desperate individuals compete in various children’s games, based on those featured in the show, for a chance to win $4.56m – the biggest jackpot in TV history.
A week later, The Challenge was renewed for a second season.
Squid Game was not only a massive hit with viewers, but with the Television Academy’s voting body as well.
It became the first non-English language drama series not only to receive several nominations in major categories at the Emmy Awards, including Best Drama, but its star Lee Jung-jae became the first Korean actor to win the Best Actor award.
Hwang also became the first Asian director to win in the Outstanding Drama Series category and the first ever director to win for a non-English language series.
“It took 12 years to bring the first season of Squid Game to life last year,” Hwang wrote on X in 2022. “But it took 12 days for Squid Game to become the most popular Netflix series ever. As the writer, director, and producer of Squid Game, a huge shout out to fans around the world. Thank you for watching and loving our show.”
