Italian
Netflix‘s most popular TV series of all time has become even more popular ahead of its Season 2 premiere.
To date, “Squid Game” Season 1 has drawn an audience of 330 million and more than 2.8 billion hours viewed since its release on Sept. 17, 2021. Netflix touts the Korean-language show as its most anticipated title of the year (despite its Dec. 26 debut being just days away from 2024’s end) and cites a 60% spike in Season 1 viewership following the release for the first Season 2 teaser on Oct. 31.
The streamer is building on the anticipation for the drama’s return with the in-person activation, Squid Game Experience — which currently is available in New York City and Madrid. It will launch in Sydney on Dec. 14 and Seoul in early 2025. The real-life version of the battle royale featured in the series (while clearly not deadly, in this case) features games inspired by the show, complete with pink uniformed guards following the group around as they go from challenge to challenge and ultimately crowning a winner. (Note: $45.6 billion won prize not included.)
“Honestly, after we had been done with Season 1, I had no intention of doing a second season, because the overall process of writing, producing and directing the series was so challenging, I didn’t think to do another one,” “Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, who infamously lost “eight or nine” teeth during production on the first season, told Variety.
Popular on Variety Hwang says he only went through with a second season (which actually turned into a second and third, once he started breaking the story) because the “immense success” of the first season “gave me the courage and motivation” to add more.
“To be quite honest, it was because Season 1 was so widely loved by so many people,” Hwang said. “And by that time around, I would constantly get asked, ‘Is there going to be a Season 2?’ And also because the story at the end of Season 1 ends with Gi-hun turning away from the flight and vowing to find these people, and many people wanted to see the story further unfold.”
