The highly anticipated second season of Netflix’s critically acclaimed survival thriller Squid Game is almost approaching. With 1.65 billion viewing hours, the first series was so popular that it became Netflix’s most viewed show ever in November 2021, its first month of release. This helped make foreign-language TV and movies more popular among English-speaking audiences. Subsequently, Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality game show offshoot on Netflix, was likewise a huge hit and sparked ethical debate. Netflix has now released a 17-second teaser for the second series of the original Squid Game to keep fans biting at the bit for more.
Here’s how the video goes, even if it’s difficult to learn much in just 17 seconds. Seong Gi-hun, the main character of the show and the winner of season one’s Squid Game (played by Lee Jung-jae), is seen carrying a phone to his ear while strolling through what looks to be an airport.
“You’ll regret your decision,” warns the voice on the other end of the call. In response, Gi-hun says, “I will find you.” After a little silence, he continues, “No matter what it takes.”
For those who are in need of a spoiler-filled synopsis of the first season or who missed the worldwide phenomenon entirely, Squid Game is a television series about 456 financially distressed participants who accepted an invitation from a recruiter to participate in a series of traditional Korean children’s games. A chance to win $4.56 million is the reward that is dangled in front of the contestants. But as each task carries the possibility of harm or death, it quickly becomes apparent that the stakes are quite high, and the game turns violent.
But by the first season’s conclusion, Gi-hun triumphs. Not only that, but before the season ends, Gi-hun makes the decision that he wishes to stop the Squid Game recruiter from recruiting more players for a later game.
According to Sean Boelman, a film and television writer at FandomWire, “at the end of season one, Gi-hun was going to go back home to reunite with his daughter, but then he sees a person recruiting for Squid Game and tries to foil them.” “He was supposed to get on a flight and go back home, but he turned around in the airport at the end of the final episode.”
Here we go again, returning to the recently unveiled 17-second teaser, which seems to resume in the airport scenario that concluded the first season. So, specifically which choice will Gi-hun regret? And who was the man making that threat over the phone?
Introducing the very first look at SQUID GAME SEASON 2. Coming this year. pic.twitter.com/fzRzdtHRDY
— Netflix (@netflix) February 1, 2024
What can we expect from the second season, and will anyone return from the dead?
Boelman speculates that Lee Byung-hun, the Front Man from season one, might have been the voice on the phone. What choice will Gi-hun regret making, then? According to Boelman, the threat alludes to Gi-hun’s choice to attempt to obstruct the Squid Game Recruiter’s attempts to recruit other competitors and demolish the Squid Game organization.
“At the end of season one, the Front Man issues an ultimatum to Gi-hun, telling him to move on with his life and go back to his daughter,” says Boelman. “The comment we hear in the season two trailer – in which Gi-hun is told he will regret his decision — appears to continue that threat from Front Man.”
In light of this, Boelman imagines a number of other Gi-hun-related season two storylines. “Perhaps the conflict could involve the organizers of the games kidnapping Gi-hun’s loved ones to punish Gi-hun for trying to thwart their sadistic games,” Boelman says. “Perhaps this will result in Gi-hun returning to the games—either by being abducted by the organizers and coerced into competing, or by surreptitiously entering the games to undermine them from within.”
“The teaser makes it look like a classic revenge thriller in the vein of something like [the French action-thriller film directed by Pierre Morel] Taken,” says Boelman. Additionally, he thinks that season two might see the return of some of the individuals who seemed to have been killed off.
Boelman goes on, “My guess is that some of the characters we saw die in the first season might not actually be dead,” and he anticipates Netflix releasing at least a few additional teasers before to the start of series two.
“The highly-anticipated second season will follow Gi-hun as he abandons his plans to go to the US and starts a chase with a motive,” according to a statement made by Netflix regarding the upcoming season.
Furthermore, the massive entertainment company has verified that a number of the most well-liked characters from season one will return. These characters include Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-joon, and Gong Yoo, who will all be reprising their original roles.
Netflix hasn’t disclosed the exact start date of series two in 2024, though.