Squid Game is irrevocable proof of Netflix’s global strategy. The first season Korean series is the most-watched non-English season on Netflix with more than triple the hours viewed than its nearest competitor. With that amount of success, it’s no wonder the streamer immediately ordered a second season, but that was in 2022.
To tide fans over in the meantime, Netflix released a reality show, a pop-up experience, and even plans for a prestige remake. But it’s now two years later and fans are getting anxious for the real thing. Thankfully, we now have our first look at what’s ahead for Season 2 before it returns this December. Check it out below.
There’s not much to the teaser — we merely see a new crop of players in their iconic green jumpsuits, plus Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun, player #456 from Season 1. The teaser suggests that in Season 2, “the real game begins,” suggesting that Season 2 won’t just be a continuation of Season 1’s playground games. Instead, it’ll be an escalation that will bring Gi-hun face-to-face with the powers that be behind this twisted game.
It may only be Season 2, but it’s already the beginning of the end for this series. At the beginning of August, when Netflix announced the December 26 release date for Season 2, Squid Game showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk also announced the series would return for a third and final season at some point in the future. With that endpoint in mind, it’s likely we’ll see the finale be teased in Season 2 somehow.
Hwang also gave fans a tease of what’s ahead in Season 2. “Seong Gi-hun who vowed revenge at the end of Season 1 returns and joins the game again,” he wrote in a statement. “Will he succeed in getting his revenge? Front Man doesn’t seem to be an easy opponent this time either. The fierce clash between their two worlds will continue into the series finale with Season 3, which will be brought to you next year.”
So while Season 2 of Squid Game may reach screens in the last gasps of 2024, there won’t be another two-year gap between seasons. If this teaser is to be believed, the real game starts now and will end at some point next year.
