It’s fairly clear why Netflix would need to return to the nightmarish world of South Korea’s “Squid Game,” with its life-or-death choices, betrayals and humiliations amongst contestants determined for the fortune supplied to the winner. After all, the sequence is the streamer’s largest hit thus far and has gained three Screen Actors Guild Awards and 6 Emmys (together with for Drama Series, Lead Actor for Lee Jung-jae, and Directing for creator Hwang Dong- hyuk).
But why would Hwang need to come again for extra, and the way might he justify placing Lee’s character, Gi-hun, in that form of hazard once more?
It seems that Hwang has much more to say about humanity via “Squid Game,” sufficient even for 2 extra seasons (season 2 releases Dec. 26, and the staff is engaged on season 3 now). And in doing so, he made a serious change, which modified the central query of the present.
As for its protagonist: “At the tip of the primary season, Gi-hun was already a distinct individual,” Hwang says, via an interpreter, of what might drag this everyman into that candy-colored hell. “After profitable the sport, he found that his mom had died and dyed his hair. Even if he tries to return to his regular life, the injury is already executed. He cannot return (to that life) due to the trauma.”
Lee Jung-jae, middle, as Gi-hun within the second season of “Squid Game.”
(No Ju-han/Netflix)
Season 2’s Gi-hun is not the hapless loser that viewers first met. Three years have handed and he has devoted his now appreciable fortune to discovering the mysterious island on which he has seen so many individuals die for the amusement of gaming patrons. His mission is to finish the video games as soon as and for all. But his trauma runs deep, as evidenced by a surprising scene by which he tries to use somebody’s info by taking part in Russian roulette with them.
“They’re taking part in this recreation in a confined house with simply two of them, and it is actually a lethal recreation,” Lee says, additionally via an interpreter, of the video games’ lingering results on Gi-hun. “There should have been some form of explosive adrenaline rush. And I assumed to myself, perhaps Gi-hun, with out even realizing it, is having fun with that rush. When I assumed in regards to the motivation behind it as an actor, I additionally doubted myself. This scene may be very cinematic, it’s totally dramatic,” he says.
Hwang acknowledges that he was impressed by “The Deer Hunter.” “So I needed to assume, ‘How can we make this occur? How can we make it life like?’ There are these two components: (he’s obsessive about the thought) of discovering these behind the sport and stopping it; and alternatively, he’s inadvertently having enjoyable.
But the primary distinction between the 2 seasons comes from the present’s investigation into human nature. In the primary season, contestants got the chance to vote: maintain making an attempt to make some huge cash, or give up and go residence with nothing however your life. Those looking for to finish the competitors gained… however most proved determined sufficient to return anyway. In season two, that vote occurs after each recreationand if the bulk chooses to desert, the survivors share the pot: everybody turns into a bit of richer and goes residence alive.
But what if the bulk decides they might fairly attempt to get it? Very richer, even when meaning most of these round them must die, together with those that needed to go away? The human query begins from survival: what would you give as much as reside? – to greed – are you prepared to let others die for an opportunity at fabulous wealth?
And there may be additionally a sociopolitical query. It is a binary system; a alternative of extremes. And that is precisely what Hwang needed to speak about, past the convoluted trappings of the world’s hottest thriller sequence.
“I attempted to ask this query: ‘What is the that means of this voting system and this majority rule? Is majority rule all the time right?’” says director Hwang Dong-hyuk.
(Shayan Asgharnia/For The Times)
Hwang says: “In season 2, I’ll attempt to take full benefit of the voting system. There are many points surrounding the presidential election, in Korea, within the United States and world wide. (Factions) search to dominate via majority rule. And all through the second and third seasons, I attempted to ask this query: “What is the that means of this voting system and this majority rule?” Is majority rule all the time right? Looking on the political and social panorama world wide, I assumed asking this query presently can be very significant. Across the world, financial and political polarization and extremism are rampant nowadays. So it was one thing I needed to cope with.
Lee says, “Director Hwang stated that for those who take a look at how the votes go on the present, it is nearly all the time another vote or another individual. It’s nearly 50-50. Then one vote will make one facet win,” which hits Hwang’s level about majority rule when the alternatives are so polarized and the stakes so excessive.
“Although this displays actuality, as an artist, I used to be really extra centered on human greed and want,” Lee provides. “At first, individuals assume, ‘Oh, I’m advantageous with this. I can solely go away the sport with this amount of cash.’ But for those who play one other spherical, you end up richer, and it’s totally pure to assume, “What do you assume?” only one extra?’ “
