'Squid Game 2' to explore whether individuals have power to change world: director

"Squid Game 2" director Hwang Dong-hyuk speaks during a press conference held in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Aug. 1. (Netflix)

"Squid Game," a critique of social and economic inequality as well as widespread mistreatment of the disadvantaged, returns with a new season and a new theme: do individuals have power to change the world?

"When Season 1 came out, many journalists asked why it became so popular, and I replied, ‘Maybe it’s because life has become as difficult as the world in 'Squid Game,''" said Hwang Dong-hyuk, director of the first and second seasons of "Squid Game," during a press conference held in Seoul, Aug. 1. For spoiler reasons, the content of the press conference was embargoed until Wednesday.

"Now, three years later, it doesn’t feel like things have improved," he said.

"This seems true both in Korea and elsewhere. The climate crisis is worsening and issues like poverty and inequality remain pressing issues. With Seasons 2 and 3, I wanted to explore the question of whether we have the power to reverse this downward trend," he said.

"Do we have that potential? Are we beings capable of making such a change? I wanted to create a story that raises this question once more," said Hwang.

For "Squid Game 2," Hwang said he sought to incorporate this theme by introducing death games that require more interaction between contestants than those in the first season.

"The games will include quite a few that require cooperation. Compared to Season 1, Season 2 has more games where players can actively do something to one another, and I think this will allow such themes to unfold even more dramatically within the game setting," said Hwang.

"Squid Game 2" (Netflix)

Season 2, consisting of seven episodes, will be released on Dec. 26. Season 3 is slated for release in 2025, though the number of episodes has not yet been decided.

According to Hwang, the story for Seasons 2 and 3 was originally one continuous narrative, but they eventually chose to split it in the middle to create two distinct seasons.

"The story for Seasons 2 and 3 was originally written as one continuous piece. ... But even though it's one big narrative, the story had a major turning point in the middle after its seventh episode," said Hwang.

"We thought it would be uniquely interesting to cut the story off into two seasons and also meaningful to receive separate feedback (for each season), so we decided to create seasons two and three," Hwang said.

According to the director, the story of "Squid Game" will meet its end in the third season.

The cast of "Squid Game Season 2," with Choi Seung-hyun (back row, far left) (Netflix Korea's Instagram account)

Meanwhile, "Squid Game 2" has sparked considerable controversy with the casting of Choi Seung-hyun, also formerly known as T.O.P from K-pop group Bigbang. Choi was sentenced to 10 months in prison, which was suspended for 2 years, by the Seoul Central District Court in 2017 for using marijuana.

Regarding the casting choice, Hwang expressed confidence in Choi’s abilities and emphasized that he was the best fit for the role, the details of which remain confidential.

"When we decided to cast Choi, quite some time had passed since (he was embroiled in the controversy). His sentence had already been handed down, and his probation period had ended. I felt that enough time had passed for him to start working on something like this again, and that’s why I decided to cast him," said Hwang.

As for speculation that Choi is cast as a former singer in the series, the director said, "While I can’t go into detail, it’s a role that requires both courage and a certain resolve. I believed that Choi was the most suitable actor for this part, and that’s why I ultimately made the decision to cast him," he said.

By Lee Yoon-seo(yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com)