There’s no one reason for Squid Game’s success, but one of its biggest strengths was its ability to tell the stories of people on the fringes of Korean culture: immigrants, defectors, gambling addicts, and abuse survivors. Anyone willing to lose their lives in the Games has to want a better life, and we saw unflinching portraits of what drove the contestants to play.
In Season 2, it looks like we’ll see more stories of the people society left behind. But one character is drawing controversy due to the show’s casting choice. Unfortunately, it reveals the series’ biggest blindspot — and casts doubt on the future.
Netflix recently released a “Meet the Cast” video for Squid Game Season 2 ahead of the season’s December 26 release. Because Season 1 was so brutal, there aren’t many returning players, which means an almost entirely new ensemble. A few key characters introduced in the video include Myung-gi, who got caught up in a crypto scam, Yong-sik, a shameless gambling addict, Jung-bae, Gi-hun’s oafish friend from Season 1, and Seon-nyeo, a mystical shaman.
One character, Hyun-ju, is described by actor Park Sung-hoon as “a former special forces soldier and a transgender woman.” She’s competing in order to afford gender-affirming care. It sounds like a backstory perfect for Squid Game, and a chance to spotlight a part of society that often goes forgotten.
However, Park is a cisgender male actor playing a transgender woman. This has sparked a controversy as fans have debated whether this is an ethical casting choice. While trans people have always existed, their stories on screen are often told using cisgender actors, like Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl or Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club. This is problematic because trans women are women, not men in costumes, and should be portrayed as such.
Some fans suggest that a trans actress simply couldn’t be found during casting, since Korea isn’t as progressive as other countries in terms of LGBTQ issues. But trans people still exist in the country, even if they face extreme obstacles in their day-to-day lives. There are even trans actresses working in Korea, like Lee Si-yeon or Choi Hae-jun.
Other fans insist that even if a trans actress could be found, the fact that Hyun-ju is saving up for gender affirmation means a trans actress who has already transitioned couldn’t portray her accurately. But this doesn’t make sense: transitioning is not about “passing” as one gender or another, it’s about feeling comfortable in her own skin. It seems like she’s raising money for bottom surgery specifically, something that has no bearing on her outward appearance at all.
But considering the high profile of Squid Game and the possibility of abuse and backlash, it’s possible no trans woman was open to playing the character. That still doesn’t excuse casting a cisgender man in the role. Japanese Netflix original Alice in Borderland — often compared to Squid Game for its similar premise — also features a trans woman character, Hikari Kuina, but she’s played by cisgender woman Aya Asahina. K-Drama Itaewon Class took a similar approach, casting Lee Joo-young as trans woman Ma Hyun-yi. Cisgender women still aren’t the ideal casting choice for a trans woman, but it’s a better option than a cisgender man, or not including a trans character at all.
Casting a man disguised as a woman as a trans woman equates trans women to just that: men in disguise. It’s not representation, it’s caricature, and the fact showrunner and writer Hwang Dong-hyuk approved this casting choice is not a good sign for Hyun-ju’s story being handled with care. Park says that through Hyun-ju’s resilience, “she breaks down stereotypes and shines as an inspiring character,” but it’s hard to see how her character can be inspiring if her very appearance is a stereotype in itself.
It doesn’t matter what the story is or at what point the character is in their transition: trans people deserve to tell their own stories, or at the very least have a say in the way they are told.
