‘Squid Game’ Season 2 is inspired by ‘The Matrix,’ Hwang Dong-hyuk says
In a new Hollywood Reporter cover story, “Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk pulls back the black mesh mask on Season 2 of the world’s biggest show, which is arriving on Netflix next month. He reveals an influence on the Emmy-winning thriller series that sounds a little surprising at first but actually makes a lot of sense.
At the end of Season 1 and heading into Season 2, the main character Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) has millions of dollars in the bank after winning the deadly Squid Game. But he can’t move on knowing that more people will die as the games continue unless he does something about it. Describing his mental and emotional state, Hwang compares Player 456 to another hero who learned the truth of the world and couldn’t go back to his old life.
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“I was thinking about Gi-hun’s unfinished quest,” says Hwang, “and about ‘The Matrix’ where Neo is given the option of the blue or red pill. He could have just lived happily on, but he chooses to take the pill where he becomes aware of the Matrix and struggles to get away from it.” Gi-hun has taken the red pill.
Elsewhere, Hwang discusses some of the new themes and characters in Season 2. There are two young people in Season 2 who are ex-lovers, neither of whom knew the other would be there. The man is there because he lost all his money in crypto, which is something that started happening a lot more in the three years between seasons.
“We didn’t have that many young people in the game in Season 1 because when I was first working on the script, there weren’t reasons for the younger generation to be so hugely indebted,” Hwang said. “However, during the pandemic, there was this huge cryptocurrency craze that led to so many young people getting neck deep in debt and driven into poverty.”
Hwang also talks in greater depth than usual about how his years living in Los Angeles as a young man and seeing the American version of income inequality shaped “Squid Game,” and offers a preview of a big theme in Season 2, which depicts a more democratic but even darker version of the game: “We live in a democratic society, and everyone has their own right to vote, but the dominant side rules. So I also wanted to pose the question: Is the majority always right?”
“Squid Game” Season 2 premieres Dec. 26 on Netflix.
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