For a show that became a defining fixture of the 2020s seemingly overnight, Squid Game’s impact waned pretty quickly. Its perfect first season benefited all the more from its serendipitous release date: With the entire world stuck at home and desperate for something new to occupy their time, Squid Game became the water-cooler event of the modern era. It made a lot of sense when Netflix renewed the show for more seasons, even spinning a reality show out of its battle royale premise. Last year, Squid Game’s final season ended with a tease for yet another spinoff: a sequel series, directed by David Fincher, that would have brought this bloody game stateside.
Most saw through Netflix’s intentions the minute the streamer announced plans for “Squid Game, but in America.” The original show’s final two seasons failed to fully capture the world in the same grip that Season 1 did; an American spinoff just felt like another desperate play to make a franchise out of something that should have stood alone. The first tease we got for this project, which came at the end of Season 3, seemed to sink Squid Game’s stock further. Still, there was some hope — if anyone could pull off something so unnecessary, Fincher might have been the guy to do it. Unfortunately, his latest series might have just been wiped off the board.
