Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk didn’t originally see the show lasting for more than one season. In fact, he wrote it as a stand-alone movie. But the show’s overwhelming popularity has made a second series not only possible but inevitable. “A second season has become inevitable in a way,†star Lee Jung-jae told People. “I remember when we were shooting, I asked [Hwang] if there’d be a second season, and he said, ‘I don’t think so. That’s going to be very difficult.’ But we can’t not do one now, because we’ve received so much love all across the world.†Hwang has big ideas about the thematic tenor of a Squid Games season 2: “I want to ask the question, ‘Is true solidarity between humans possible?’†the director told Vanity Fair. That question was in the background of season one, but Hwang wants to bring it to the fore for season two, especially as the world catapults toward global collapse on multiple fronts. “If they were capable of talking with one another, of cooperating with one another, I do agree that there could have been a possibility that we could have seen more winners,†he said.
Returning cast is, shall we say, limited for a season two. Lee is set to reprise Gi-hun, and there’s a slight chance the Front Man will be back. Beyond that, it’s all guesswork. Chantal, the giant robot doll who stole our hearts in season one, is waiting for her own green light to return.