It’s been three years since Squid Game landed on Netflix and the Korean drama the world by storm. Now the story continues with Season 2, following Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), Player 456, as he tries to put an end to the deadly competition.
Gi-hun’s has gone back into the horrifying game, with a group of new players, trying to defeat Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) from the inside. But in Season 2 Front Man spends a lot more time with his mask off, not only allowing us to learn more about the character, but there’s an interesting evolution in his connection to Gi-hun.
“As an actor you are more familiar with and also enjoy a lot more being able to portray your emotions through your facial expressions and your eyes, and everything you can utilize, rather than only relying on your voice,” Lee Byung-hun told Yahoo Canada, via a translator.
“So I really liked that part about being able to portray the Front Man this season, and especially because this time around, I had to portray multiple personalities. I had to be very cautious in my approach to the character, also be very nuanced and detailed and [making sure] that each of those identities were convincing to the viewers. So that entire process, while it was very challenging, was very enjoyable.”
Lee Byung-hun as Front Man in Squid Game Season 2 (No Ju-han/Netflix)
‘So much polarization and becoming a lot more extreme’
In developing Season 2 of the incredibly popular series, creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk looked at the spread of polarization around the world. That led to one evolution in the show’s competition, players are required vote at the end of each round if they want the competition to continue. Depending on how they vote, they’re separated into group X or O.
“When I was planning … for Season 2, I once again looked around and observed what was going on around the world, and reading the news and watching what was happening globally,” Hwang told Yahoo Canada through translator. “Sadly enough, I thought to myself that the world was headed for an even worse direction and the theme that really stood out to me was the theme of division and conflict. Not only politically speaking between right and left, … but divisions between genders, religions, generations and social class. Everything was being exacerbated. So much polarization and becoming a lot more extreme.”
“So I wanted to reflect those themes in the second season and I wanted to do that through the voting system. In Korea, we have a saying where we stamp one another as being on whichever side they choose. And so I literally wanted to do that by having the voters wear those patches, either circle or X, depending on which group they voted for. And so we began expressing that through the wardrobe and then that visual line on the ground of the dormitory set. … A the beginning, it’s only divided when you are taking the votes and when you are sleeping, … but as the episodes unfold you will notice that everyone is now divided into either O or X, and the line in the middle really clearly marks that division.”
Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game Seaso 2 (No Ju-han/Netflix)
For Lee Jung-jae, he went into this second season feeling “a lot of pity” for his character Gi-hun.
“Having gone through so much, he became a broken soul,” Lee said, through a translator. “He couldn’t use any of the money that he earned and he lived like a homeless person, and I felt him and I felt so sorry for him.”
“In Season 2 you can see him feeling this immense sense of guilt for all the players that died in the first game, and he has nightmares, he can’t sleep, and I could really feel him. … I was amazed at how he channels that guilt into his motivation to put an end to the atrocities that happen in the game. So I was rooting for him. So I had all of these different emotions … when I was reprising the role of Gi-hun.”
Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game Season 2 (No Ju-han/Netflix)
‘I have to keep smiling’
While fans of the first season are coming back to the show particularly interested in Gi-hun’s development, in addition to learning more about the Front Man’s motivations, the stories of the new players are particularly impactful.
One of those players is Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), a old friend and coworker of Gi-hun’s who would gamble on horse races with him. While Gi-hun initially tries to warn the other players how deadly this game is, there’s also a beautiful exploration of this friendship, particularly when Jung-bae incredibly underestimates the dangers of the competition, adding another emotional layer to Gi-hun’s quest.
“I had this big character arc and I kind of wanted to chop that arc into pieces and make sure that you can feel the difference in the different chopped pieces,” Lee Seo-hwan said, via a translator. “My character, Jung-bae, was an ex-Marine, so he knows [what] firing a firearm sounds like and that terror when you’re not supposed to hear those sounds in the game, but you hear it, and also when he sees real blood from people, that gives you a lot of terror.”
“So I tried my best to show his terror when time is ticking, when they have to play a team game and he doesn’t know how to work with others. So when things get worse, I also try to portray my character as someone who could rely on his friend, Gi-hun, and he also can let Gi-hun rely on him too. … But what was really important to me was to make sure that he doesn’t lose his sense of humour and that smile. Because I think Jung-bae would have thought that if I can vote X in the next round and go back to my normal life, in order to be the same person I used to be, I have to keep my sense of humour. I have to keep smiling and not lose that sense of happiness inside of me.”
(L to R) Yang Dong-geun as Park Yong-sik, Kang Ae-sim as Jang Geum-ja in Squid Game Season 2 (No Ju-han/Netflix)
‘I was so afraid of shooting that scene’
There’s also Park Yong-sik, Player 007 (Yang Dong-geun), and his mother Jang Geum-ja, Player 149 (Kang Ae-sim). Geum-ja is hoping to win money to pay her son’s gambling debts, not knowing that he joined the competition himself, until they both arrived.
“I was really kind of looking back at my experiences of motherhood, of raising my own son, and then meshing it into the story that was written in the script,” Kang Ae-sim said, via a translator.
This relationship in the season includes a particularly emotional moment during the Mingle game, where a certain number of players have to be in a room before the doors lock. Anyone not in a room at that point is shot.
During this game the mother and son get separated, with Geum-ja having to face questions about her son’s choices, defending him as good person. When they reunite after the separation, he breaks down while apologizes to him mom.
“I almost didn’t want to join the show because I was so afraid of shooting that scene, and it was really a scene that I had to come face-to-face with myself, because it reminds me of my own relationship to my mom,” Yang Dong-geun said, also with a translator.
“Once I was filming the scene on the day, lyrics that I had written in the past kind of came up, like moments that I really kind of caused heartache for my mom, and all this inspiration came to me while we were filming. And I thought that it was a really healing moment for me, because I was able to access thoughts that I had locked away for a really long time, and also be able to accept some parts of my personal life. And because of that, I think this emotion is able to be delivered to the audience.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 12: (L-R) Jo Yu-ri, Lee Byung-hun, Don Kang, VP, Content (Korea), Netflix, Hwang Dong-hyuk, Lee Seo-hwan, Bela Bajaria, CCO, Netflix, Yim Si-wan, Kim Ji-yeon, Greg Peters, Co-CEO, Netflix, Minyoung Kim, VP, Content (APAC ex-India), Netflix, Yang Dong-geun, Lee Jung-jae and Kang Ae-shim attends the Los Angeles Premiere & Fan Event for Netflix’s “Squid Game” Season 2 at Los Angeles City College on December 12, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
‘All I had to do was just to enjoy the process’
While the Squid Game Season 2 story is packed with thrills, shocks and emotional moments, coming off of such a global success in Season 1, the actors felt the pressure to succeed for the new season.
“I was under a lot of pressure, because I was aware how much success the first season had,” Jo Yu-ri, who plays Jun-hee, a pregnant woman with the baby of a fellow player, Myung-gi (Yim Si-wan) said via a translator. “But when I first read the script I loved it, and then knowing that we have such a great script, I realized … all I had to do was just to enjoy the process and do my best for the shooting.”
“When I was first cast for the Season 2 I was just flattered and I was just so happy,” Yim Si-wan added. “But as you can imagine, when we started production I was also feeling some pressure going into such a successful project, but I loved script as well, and I also thought that I will do my best to make it another success.”