Why Squid Game's Creator Is 'Sick' Of The Netflix Series

No Ju-han/Netflix

The second season of "Squid Game" hits Netflix on December 26, 2024, and apparently, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is sick of the whole thing already.

In a piece in Variety detailing the New York City pop-up "Squid Game: The Experience" — which ostensibly allows fans to see what it might feel like to participate in the deadly games seen on the TV series, which is a little confusing when you consider that, again, people die whenever they lose a game on the show — Hwang seemed downright baffled by the series' massive success, which has spawned "experiences," video games, and a poorly thought-out reality series called "Squid Game: The Challenge" (also on Netflix). "I had no intention of doing a second season, because the overall process of writing, producing and directing the series was so challenging. I didn't think to do another one," Hwang said, with the outlet referencing his previous claim that he lost teeth over the stress of making season 1.

That's when Hwang really opened up. "I'm so exhausted," the creator confessed. "I'm so tired. In a way, I have to say, I'm so sick of 'Squid Game.' I'm so sick of my life making something, promoting something. So I'm not thinking about my next project right now. I'm just thinking about going to some remote island and having my own free time without any phone calls from Netflix." ("Not the 'Squid Game' island," Hwang confirmed.)

No Ju-han/Netflix

Based on the surprising success of "Squid Game," the first season of which premiered in late 2021 and became a legitimate sensation for Netflix, it's not entirely surprising that the streamer wants as much "Squid Game" related content as possible. (For God's sake, they're still holding those poor "Stranger Things" kids hostage until that phenomenon comes to a close.) In October of this year, it was announced that David Fincher, who previously worked on the crime drama "Mindhunter" for Netflix, will helm a new project set in the "Squid Game" universe, though there's not much information out there about the project just yet. So, will Hwang Dong-hyuk be involved in that? Sort of!I

"There are certain projects that are currently being made where they ask for my opinion a little bit more actively," Hwang told Variety. "So as far as I know, going forward, there's going to be even more creative projects that come from the 'Squid Game' universe, some of which I will be more involved in."

The outlet also spoke to Minyoung Kim, the head of Asia Pacific content at Netflix, who said the international success of "Squid Game" was a shock to the system. "We had always expected 'Squid Game' to be one of the biggest shows in Korea and in Asia," Kim noted (the show is set in South Korea and stars South Korean performers). "It took about 10 days for it to start exploding elsewhere. The right adjective that actually describes it is 'surreal.' And director Hwang was on the internet all the time; he would capture everything on any kind of dashboard that he sees, to see how many countries it's going to be No. 1 in. We were all obsessed with a lot of those metrics, until we finally realized, 'Oh, this is the biggest show in the world.'"

No Ju-han/Netflix

Based on all of this, it seems like Netflix would love for "Squid Game" to run forever, but the show does have an endpoint — and it'll be here sooner than you think. In November, Hwang Dong-hyuk spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and confirmed that season 3 of "Squid Game" will be the end of the series. "When I was thinking about the idea for the ending of season 3, I think it sort of naturally came to me that this was the finale," he told the outlet. "I believed that with that story, I was able to tell everything that I wanted to tell through the story of 'Squid Game' and also in the perspective of Gi-hun as a character, and I thought that we don't need any further stories from here."

We still have season 2 on the horizon, and according to the show's star Lee Jung-jae — who won an Emmy for playing the series lead Seong Gi-hun — when we do see the show's conclusion, it's going to blow everyone away. "The ending is something you really cannot expect," Lee said in the aforementioned Variety article. "I am looking forward to what kind of interpretations viewers have." Until then, you can rewatch "Squid Game" season 1, watch the reality TV competition (if you want to, though I don't recommend it), and stream all of "Squid Game" season 2 on December 26, 2024.