Sign in to your Collider account
Image via Netflix
Arguably the hit series of the decade so far, Squid Game enchanted millions the world over with the release of its first season in 2021. The release of Season 2 has already become something of a worldwide phenomenon, with the story focusing on Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) three years after he won the Squid Game as he gives up on his aspirations of traveling to America and returns to the games with a renewed purpose.
Delicately meshing searing thrills with razor-sharp social commentary about class and wealth, while also making for a scintillating viewing experience, Squid Game has plenty to offer audiences regardless of what piques their interest. Thankfully, there have been many other series that may appeal to fans of the hit South Korean series, from grueling psychological thrillers to exhilarating action spectacles.
10 'Hellbound' (2021-2024)
Directed by Yeon Sang-ho
Image via Netflix
The vibrant unpredictability of Squid Game’s narrative—and the ever-present threat of death that shadowed over every character at any given time—was what hooked so many viewers. For those who love such engaging thrills, Hellbound might be the perfect series to sink into next. The South Korean supernatural fantasy transpires as ruthless angels of death begin delivering violent condemnation to lost souls destined for hell. In the wake of their emergence, a religious cult develops on the basis of divine justice.
The series has earned praise for how it balances its visceral horror elements with tremendous insights into sin in the modern day and humanity’s perpetual search for purpose and reason in the face of the divine. It drew immediate comparisons to Squid Game for its thrilling story of decisions and consequences, but Hellbound packs an added punch with its philosophical, biblical might that imbues the series with an existential pondering that is universally intriguing.
Release Date November 19, 2021
Cast Yoo Ah-in , Kim Hyun-joo , Park Jeong-min , Won Jin-ah , Yang Ik-Joon , Kim Do-yoon , Kim Shin-rock , Ryu Kyung-soo
Seasons 2
9 'Black Mirror' (2011-)
Created by Charlie Brooker
Image via Netflix
While Squid Game entranced many with its gripping story of life-and-death stakes, it was the show’s underlying social commentary of capitalism and class disparity that made the story so engaging. In the grand scheme of contemplative and thematically loaded television, there are few series as piercing and powerful as Black Mirror, with the show using its anthology layout to explore a huge variety of modern issues and anxieties tied to technology.
Granted, it seems unlikely that there will be many Squid Game fans who haven’t been exposed to Black Mirror at some point, but anyone yet to explore the British series would be well advised to immerse themselves in its philosophical grandeur. Many did comment that Squid Game itself, with its dystopian story of exploitation and social desperation, matches the aura emitted by many of Black Mirror’s best and most enduring episodes.
Release Date December 4, 2011
Rating
Seasons 5
8 'Physical: 100' (2023-)
Created by Jang Ho-gi
Image via Netflix
A lot was made of Squid Game’s thematic might, and rightfully so, but fans who simply enjoyed the premise of a large group of people battling it out until one person emerges victorious would be wise to lean into series like Physical: 100. Taking a leaf out of the book of shows like Ninja Warrior, the reality show originates from South Korea and features 100 contestants in elite physical condition as they compete in a series of grueling challenges to determine who will be the last one standing.
Thankfully, the show doesn’t quite go to the deadly lengths of Squid Game, but it still sees its champions battling it out not only for the honor of victory, but for a significant cash prize as well. Loaded with grueling and elaborate challenges and awe-inspiring feats of physical strength, Physical: 100 is as close to a real-life Squid Game as we will get.
Release Date January 24, 2023
Cast Jeong Young-han , Yoshihiro Akiyama , Yun Sung-bin
Seasons 2
7 'All of Us Are Dead' (2022-)
Created by Chun Sung-il, Lee Jae-kyoo & Kim Nam-su
Image via Netflix
Another engrossing thriller series from South Korea, All of Us Are Dead throws healthy doses of zombie horror and teenage drama into the mix to deliver an exhilarating viewing experience with plenty of emotional grounding to boot. Set in the city of Hyosan, it transpires in the aftermath of a lousy science teacher’s experiment that causes an outbreak of the undead. As the city struggles to contain the spread of the virus, a group of high school students band together as they try to reach safety.
Admittedly, the series’ extended 12-episode run is a touch overlong, and it ends up sapping some of the horror out of the story as it wears on, but the character-driven drama remains palpable and engrossing throughout. Such a blemish doesn’t even come close to overshadowing the series’ greatest strengths, which should appeal to Squid Game fans. A second season will be filmed in 2025.
Release Date January 28, 2022
Cast Park Solomon , Cho Yi-hyun , Park Ji-hoo , Yoo In-soo , Yoon Chan-young
Seasons 2
6 'Gyakkyô burai Kaiji' (2007-2011)
Directed by Yûzô Satô
Image via Madhouse
The wonderful world of anime contains a great many shows for everyone, regardless of their tastes and interests. Those looking for more series like Squid Game are spoiled for choice, but Gyakkyô burai Kaiji is a perfect option. Running from 2007-2011, the series follows a young and unfortunate deadbeat who embarks on a peculiar new opportunity as a means to pay off his debts. However, he soon finds himself entangled in a dangerous world of high-stakes gambling that he is unsure he will be able to maneuver out of.
The similarities between the anime and Squid Game are plain to see, from the downtrodden and opportunistic protagonist reduced to desperate measures, to the gripping story of chaos and intrigue that he finds himself entrenched in. Engrossing as a thriller, and brilliantly accentuated by the animation’s exaggerated vibrancy and vigor, Gyakkuô burai Kaiji is a magnetic series perfect for those who love Squid Game’s immersive story and mounting stakes.
Gyakkyô burai Kaiji
Release Date October 3, 2007
Cast Fumihiko Tachiki , Masato Hagiwara , Yoshihisa Kawahara , Yasuhiro , Hakuryu , Naoya Uchida , Hideo Ishikawa , Hiroshi Yanaka , Yasunori Matsumoto , Toshiharu Sakurai , Kazuki Yao , Toshitsugu Takashina , Tomohiro Nishimura , Yuichi Nakamura , Daisuke Matsubara , Masahiro Koumoto , Yoshihiro Kanemitsu , Mami Sakamoto , Kenichi Ono , Rikiya Koyama , Katsuhisa Houki , Kunihiro Kawamoto , Masane Tsukayama , Yukitoshi Tokumoto , Masaya Onosaka
5 'Red Rose' (2022)
Directed by Michael and Paul Clarkson
Image via Netflix
Coming from the shores of Britain, and from the team behind Sex Education, Red Rose takes Squid Game’s intrigue of deadly games with rigid rules and applies it to the ever-relevant theme of modern-day youths and their relationship with technology. Having completed their GCSEs, a group of high school friends ready for one last summer of freedom and fun before going to college. However, their adventurous ambitions are thwarted when they download a party app called ‘Red Rose’ that makes sinister demands of the group and enforces deadly consequences should they fail their tasks.
The eight-episode miniseries garnered widespread praise for its narrative convictions, its creative dare and confidence, and its intelligent and insightful handling of its complex themes. Its depiction of the darkest and most exploitative catacombs nestled amid the vast expanses of the internet is appropriately mind-boggling, elusive, and sinister. The end result is a heart-racing thriller that packs a mighty societal punch as well.
Red Rose
Release Date August 15, 2022
Cast Lisa Siwe , Amelia Clarkson , Natalie Blair , Robyn Cara , Ashna Rabheru , Henry Blake , Ellis Howard , Michael Clarkson , Paul Clarkson , Harry Redding , Natalie Gavin , Adam Nagaitis , Isis Hainsworth , Samuel Anderson , Ali Khan , Silvie Furneaux
Seasons 1
4 'The 8 Show' (2024)
Directed by Han Jae-rim
Image via Netflix
Since the rampant success of Squid Game, there have been many clone series—especially from South Korea—that have sought to re-capture the allure and create another global sensation. While many have been cheap and derivative, one that injects something refreshing and new into the mold is the black comedy The 8 Show, another Netflix release that was unveiled in May 2024.
The premise centers on eight contestants participating in a game where they earn money for staying in an eight-story building, using their resources and income to buy provisions to keep the game going. While they start out supporting one another, the dynamic between the eight applicants begins to shift as time goes on. Its basic idea draws immediate comparisons to Squid Game, but it intelligently imbues its intense tone with skewering comedy that brilliantly undercuts much of the familiarity and formula that has soaked into the subgenre in recent years.
Release Date May 17, 2024
Cast Anzu Lawson , Rich Ting , Ryu Jun-yeol , Chun Woo-hee , Min-Jung Park , Park Hae-joon , Bae Sung-woo , Moon Jeong-hee
Seasons 1
3 'Liar Game' (2014)
Directed by Kim Hong-sun
Another series that offers Squid Game fans an intriguing spin on the premise they are familiar with, Liar Game is a South Korean series from 2014 that serves as an adaptation of the Japanese manga of the same name. It follows an innocent college student who becomes embroiled in a competitive game of wits when she is presented with an opportunity to pay off her debts. Finding herself outmatched in the ruthlessness of the competition as contestants use deceit and trickery to con each other out of their money, the impressionable youth turns to a veteran swindler and ex-con to help her.
It may not contain quite the lethal stakes of shows like Squid Game, but its ferociously intense focus on con artistry and duplicitous mind games is just as captivating. Remaining transfixed on the concept of greed, desperation, and the savage lengths people will go to in order to profit, Liar Game is a perfect series for those who love Squid Game but want a refreshed spin on the physical life-and-death stakes the series presents.
2 '3%' (2016)
Created by Pedro Aguileria
Taking the contests and trials the competitors must face in the Squid Game and extending that out to define the livelihood of every young adult, 3% is a snappy dystopian thriller from Brazil. In the distant future, the vast majority of the population live in a poverty-stricken cesspit known as The Inland. Every 20-year-old, however, is given a chance to ascend to an elitist paradise, the Offshore, by taking part in a series of tests. With only the top 3% of competitors making it through, the series follows the efforts of the contestants as well as the journey of a new inductee to the Offshore.
Given its release in the mid 2010s, the series perhaps has more in common with teen thrillers like The 100 and The Society, but it finds a great deal more depth than many of its contemporaries with its bolder character backstories and its elevated sense of brutality. Sharing Squid Game’s interest in social commentary and the subjugation of desperate people, 3% is another international gem of high-concept thriller TV that ran for four engrossing seasons from 2016 to 2020.
1 'Alice in Borderland' (2020-)
Directed by Shinsuke Sato
Image via Netflix
Coming from Japan, Alice in Borderland may be the quintessential series to watch for fans who adore Squid Game’s premise, thematic intrigue, and its thrilling story of life-and-death desperation. The series follows Ryōhei Arisu (Kento Yamazaki), an obsessive young gamer and social misfit who finds himself amid an eerie and deserted version of Tokyo. He befriends fellow contestant Yuzuha Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya), and together they must complete a series of demanding trials where failure will result in death.
While there is an emotional intensity to the characters and their predicament, the series won over many fans from the outset with its efficient exposition and backstories that enabled the spectacle of its thrilling survival story to truly take center stage. Each of the first two seasons has been met with widespread acclaim, while a third season is set to be released in 2025.
Alice in Borderland
Release Date December 10, 2020
Cast Kento Yamazaki , Tao Tsuchiya , Nijirô Murakami , Eleanor Noble
Seasons 2
English (US) ·