Netflix Announce Squid Game Season 2 Returning and New Cast Members

Netflix announced at its Tudum event in Brazil on Saturday that four new cast members, namely Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Sung-hoon, and Yang Dong-guen, will be joining the second season of “Squid Game.” These actors will be joining the returning cast members Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-Hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo, all of whom played major roles in the first season.

During a Netflix press conference in September 2022, director Hwang Dong-hyuk revealed that the second season is scheduled to premiere on the streaming platform in 2024. Hwang stated, “We will start shooting Season 2 next year [in 2023] and it’ll be released the following year.”

The second season of this Korean series has high expectations to meet. “Squid Game” became a phenomenon on Netflix, garnering a staggering 1.65 billion hours of viewing within 28 days. This incredible viewership was followed by historic Emmy wins for the cast and crew of “Squid Game.” The series received a total of 14 nominations and secured six wins, including outstanding directing, production design, special visual effects, stunt performance, actress in a guest role (Lee You-mi), and lead actor (Lee Jung-jae). Notably, Lee Jung-jae became the first Asian actor ever to win in this category.

In addition to the announcement of the Season 2 cast, Netflix revealed during the Tudum event that the controversial unscripted competition spinoff, “Squid Game: The Challenge,” is set to premiere in November. This announcement comes after reports from Variety claiming that the new competition series had “inhumane” conditions, with one contestant alleging that “the conditions were absolutely inhumane and had nothing to do with the game.”